


Dominick Kinsey:  PI

by TransientGuest



Category: Original Work
Genre: BoyxBoy, Casefiles, Crime, Drugs, Kidnapping, LGBT, LGBTQ, M/M, ManxMan, Murder, MxM - Freeform, Mystery, Thief, Visions, bxb - Freeform, mxf
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:48:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 19
Words: 33,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23663416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TransientGuest/pseuds/TransientGuest
Summary: A selection of case files shared by Dominick Kinsey, a freelance private investigator.
Relationships: Original Male Character/Original Male Character
Kudos: 1





	1. Warning

The following case files are real and may depict content that is not suitable for all viewers. Because I'm such a wonderful person I've decided to share select cases with the general public (because, really, I have no shame.) There are graphic depictions of crime scenes from the point of view of the murderers and victims. There's also some sexy time happening between me and whoever I can find. So... if you don't want to read about dicks and other things going where some people think dicks shouldn't go (I personally think they were made to push that sensitive button that's in there) then kindly fuck off.

For those of you who wish to continue reading my case files: You've been warned.

Happy reading!

Dominick Kinsey, Private Investigator


	2. Case 1:  Dirty Pussy

Boredom.

That was definitely what I was feeling at the moment. I thought opening up a private investigation business (is that what you'd call it, I don't know) would be exciting. I'd be helping the community with my super observational skills and getting paid for doing it. Turns out it's a lot more boring than that.

I've filled out more paperwork than anything else and over the month I've started this lucrative business and no cases. If things didn't change soon, I would have to find a different way to make a living. And I really didn't want to do that. I had very few things I was good at.

I decided while I had nothing to do I might as well see how many tiny braids I could get into my hair before my hours were over for the day.

There was a crash by the door. I was momentarily distracted until I realized it was my cat Derp wreaking havoc. He managed to fall into the magazine holder and knocked it over trying to be free of it. And since I'm such a good owner, I watched it happen instead of helping him. It was funny to watch. If only I could have gotten my phone out fast enough. I definitely would have videoed that.

Derp glared at the magazine holder, looking offended. He daintily made his way over to my desk and hopped up onto it, making himself at home.

We passed the hours of boredom together.

By the end of the day I had 56 braids in my hair.

I climbed the stairs to my living area, conveniently located above my office, and fed my cat. I would be getting food at the club. Which club? I didn't know yet. I hopped around from one to the other on most nights looking for my latest fling... If that's what you want to call someone I have no intention of sleeping with more than once.

* * *

A tangled mess of limbs is what I was stuck dealing with in the morning. I carefully extracted myself from the pile and looked at who was sharing my bed. Slender, olive skin, long dark hair. Seemed like my type. But who wasn't my type.

There was a feminine moan and she slowly rose out of the bed. I felt like I should address her in some way. Wish I remembered her name. Wish I remembered _last night._ Let's see, name... I could figure this out. She'd definitely told me it. It started with an N, no M, definitely M. Martie... no. Marta... nope not that either. "Maria," I tried.

She looked at me cross. Not Maria then... "Mari _ka_ ," she corrected clearly taking offense to me not remembering her name. It would definitely be a lot more offensive if I remembered anything else from that night and didn't know her name. Since I remembered nothing, _I_ was okay with not remembering her. But I wasn't going to tell her that.

I fixed her breakfast while she glared at me. Really was it so much to ask for her not to be cross at me? We might have actually been able to hold a conversation if she wasn't so icy. She ate and grabbed her stuff. With one last moody huff she left my apartment.

Oh well, It's not like what we did was gonna go further than last night anyway.

I just wish I could _remember_. It was weird that I couldn't remember. Usually my mempry was amazing. Maybe I was drugged... _Nahh._

Probably just got sloppy drunk. Also something unusual for me.

Whatever. I scratched my head and decided to think about it later. I.e: never think about it again. I had more important things to do like sit downstairs in my failing PI business. Hadn't even solved one case yet, but I'd have to give everything up because nobody wanted to hire me. Maybe it was that newspaper ad I put out. Maybe I shouldn't have made it look so much like a cheesy dating ad.

I dressed in simple jeans and a T-shirt. No reason to dress to impress. There was nobody to impress. Derp sure as hell didn't care what I was wearing. Little perv probably would enjoy it if I wasn't wearing anything. He certainly liked to stare at me when I was taking a shower. Anyway... I slinked down my stairs and plopped on my seat.

I was counting popcorn stucco on my ceiling when I heard the bell ring signifying that my door had opened. _Opened._ Someone came into my shop. I was so shocked I inhaled and immediately began choking on my spit.

Great, this person, whom I had yet to see, was going to think I'm some kind of idiot.

A small voice pied up, "Are you okay, mister?"

Gathering as much composure as I could muster, I looked over the front of my desk to see a little girl standing there holding a piggy bank.

I was also quick to note how her eyes welled up in tears. She definitely lost something.

"I'm fine," I told her, while still trying to cough up a lung. "Can I help you?"

The tears in her eyes immediately started to spill. "I lost my kitty," she cried.

Derp chose this moment to pop his head out of the trash can. Don't ask me when he decided to go in the trash can but, hey. He quickly hopped out of the can and trotted over to the little girl hugging her legs. Probably wanted food, but it was so well timed, it almost looked like he was trying to comfort the little girl.

She was so stereotypical. Fluffy ping dress, blonde hair in pigtails and large blue eyes. She even had a gap in between her teeth where one hadn't grown in yet after she lost it. I found out her name was Susie and her Kitty had been missing for a whole day. She was worried that he was lost and couldn't find his way home. Apparently she was gonna dress him up in a bonnet and have a tea party with him and he missed it. I didn't tell her that was enough to make anybody run away.

I told her I would try my best to find her cat. We exchanged contact information because who _didn't_ have a cell phone nowadays? Susie had one and she was only four and a half years old. She also helped me out by telling me her address, since that was the last time she saw her precious cat. Her name was Mr. Snuffles and she was a white longhair of no specific breed. She had blue eyes which meant, with my luck, that she was probably deaf and wouldn't hear me calling her. Or, you know, maybe she would hear me and ignore me because she's a _cat_.

I began looking around for this cat. It was my hope that I would be able to find it before the day ended. That would be best for me, the cat, and Susie, who I'm sure would cry if I couldn't find her cat by the end of the day, even though it's already been missing for at least one night.

I looked in the park by Susie's house and didn't see it there. I looked all around the streets and even went door to door looking for Mr. Snuffles. It was nearing sundown when I finally decided it might be better if I called it a day and went home. I scrubbed a hand over my face and groaned. Susie was going to be so disappointed.

I heard a noise. It was coming from my left. Sounded like a bell. Possibly the kind of bell on a cheesy cat collar. And to my luck, there was an alley to my left. Filled with all kinds of dumpsters.

Oh god, was I going to have to dumpster five for a cat? A cat that might not even be the cat I'm looking for.

I cautiously approached the dumpster, as if there was a chance that it might bite me, and opened the lid. Sure enough, there was another jingle only this time, it was louder.

I climbed up the side of the large green container and carefully swung my feet inside. Once I got my footing in the mounds of trash I stood perfectly still and listened for the bell. It was coming from the far right of the container. I carefully waded over to where the noise was coming from and began moving trash out of the way.

After digging for far longer than I wanted to, I had uncovered the source of the jingling. It was a paperclip tied inside a glass bottle occasionally hitting the side. Don't ask me what was making the clip hit the side of the bottle. There are some things even I can't explain.

Dejectedly, I clamored out of the trash. Can't believe I just messed around in a dumpster looking for a cat that wasn't even there. I looked to the ground to find a clear space to jump to and right in the clear space was a fluffy white cat looking at me like I'm an idiot.

"Mr. Snuffles!" I peeped happily.

She just cocked her head trying to figure out how I knew her name.

I hopped out of the dumpster and quickly called Susie to let her know I found her beloved cat.

While I waited for Susie to arrive at my office I gave Mr. Snuffles a much needed bath. She reeked. Then she came downstairs with me and sat on my desk where her and Derp stared at each other. It was really bazaar.

Susie rushed in crying tears of joy. "You found her!"

She thrust her piggyback from last time in my face. "I don't know how much this'll cost, but here's my whole savings," Susie said proudly.

 _Damn._ Did my first case and now I felt guilty for charging. I looked at the piggy bank thinking of the groceries I could probably buy with the meager amount of money I'm sure was inside, then I looked to Susie's proud face. _Damn._ I couldn't take the money. There's no way I could do it and not feel like a complete jerk.

I gently pushed her piggy bank away from my face. "Susie," I began slowly stalling so I could think of something to say. "How about instead of paying me, you bring Mr. Snuffles to play with Derp. He gets lonely sometimes when I'm out on cases." Definitely lying out my teeth right now. Derp took this moment to fall over his feet and smash his head on my desk.

Susie spun around in a circle with her kitty, "Yea, we get to play with the weird cat!"

Giggling happily she left the shop with her kitty and piggy bank. Before the door closed she called back, "Thanks Mr. Dominick. I'm gonna tell everyone how much you helped me."

I looked to Derp. "Case solved?" He stared into my eyes before face planting into my arm.

Right....


	3. Case 4:  Turn Me On

It was right before Christmas and my present came early. I was playing with a great set of balls wrapped in red as my date for the night (could he really be called a date?) writhed in pleasure. He liked what I was doing with his lovely package. I moaned around the gift in my mouth. I liked what I was doing too.

He finished. I swallowed and immediately got off my knees and kissed him, letting him enjoy the flavor. Sharing is caring, and I _loved_ to share. He appreciated my gift too.

Now if only I could remember his name...

I wasn't even going to try and guess this time. It didn't end well for me last time. Lucky for me I didn't need to guess. He somehow managed to acquire my phone and quickly typed in his number, handing the phone back to me. "Call me if you ever want to do this again," he instructed with a wink before slinking his way out of the alley.

I looked at my phone. His name was Maury. I enjoyed that he had no illusions of this being a relationship. We both clearly had fun. Even so, I would not be calling him.

With some extra pep in my step I sauntered home. When I got to my office door, there was Derp licking the glass. Weird cat. I opened the door and bolted up the stairs ready to start tomorrow. Which meant sleep. Sleep is good.

* * *

My alarm clock's incessant whining woke me up. I own my own business. Why on God's green earth did I make my hours start so early. Rolling out of bed seemed like a great idea to my sleep addled mind, so I ended up on the floor wrapped in my covers in a burrito-like fashion.

Quickly, I scrambled off of the floor and got ready making sure to fill Derp's food dish and fill his water before I went downstairs to sit in front of my desk. After sitting there for a solid two minutes I was bored. I pulled over my Newton's Cradle that sat in the corner of my desk and began to amuse myself with how many times I could get the silver balls to bounce back and forth. I was conducting my own science experiment, or something like that. Yea, Science!

While I was in the middle of counting my door opened and the bell attached to the top jingled angrily. The man who entered looked just as angry. He was on the late side of middle age, comfortable round with a ruddy face and a lovely comb over that probably should have been shaved several years ago. It made me want to tell him to let it go, his hair was gone. He wouldn't be bad looking in that older Daddy type way if he just said goodbye to his hair.

Oh well, to each their own. I'm sure someone out there found comb overs sexy as hell.

He focused his glare upon me, dark brown eyes piercing into my soul. "Are you the detective?" he growled.

"Yes Da- um _sir_ ," I answered promptly. Okay, his voice was definitely checking off a lot of boxes.

"I'm having a problem with my Christmas lights. They won't turn on and I've had issues in the past with kids cutting wires," he explained. "I'd like you to set up surveillance so I can catch the perpetrator and stop all of this nonsense."

I jumped up from behind my desk eager for action. "Sounds good, lead the way." I motioned him out of my small office. He showed me to his car.

I rode to his house, listening to Yanni the whole way there. Who listens to _Yanni_? I can judge him all I want, but I still recognized the songs as Yanni songs without the helpful song identification.

When we got to his home I began my walk around. I took careful surveillance of the whole property looking for anything that could be causing the lights to not turn on. I also was checking out where the best places to put cameras would be, if it came to that. Meanwhile, the man, whose name I found out was Kevin, followed me around breathing down my neck. Probably wanted to make sure I wasn't going to slack off or steal anything.

We got to the garage, where most of his plugs were all hazardously plugged into one power strip. Well, that's not good. That could definitely start a fire.

I Took special note of the power strip. It was overloaded, yes, but it was also one of those with a switch that didn't light up. And there was no marking saying which way was on. "Did you make sure the power switch was on?" I asked attempting to cover my bases.

"Do you honestly think I would call in a detective if I didn't check the power cord?" Ooh touchy. Definitely defensive. Makes me think he didn't really check to see if the strip was on.

I shrugged. I was coming back later to set up surveillance equipment. At that time I'd just happened to flick the switch and see what happened.

Hours later, it was time to set up the surveillance equipment. I purposefully waited until the sun was beginning to set so there would be no question on whether the lights were actually on. I set my bags in the garage, with Kevin still standing in my shadow. After I set my equipment bag down I went to make sure I had all my spots picked out for the cameras. On my way out the door I flicked the switch to the power strip.

"Holy shit! They work!" Kevin exclaimed excitedly. "What'd you do?"

He asked so I told him, "I turned the power strip on."

Kevin's mouth dropped open in shock and embarrassment. "Guess I _didn't_ check the power strip."

Yeah, no shit.

Reaching out his hand he met mine in a firm handshake, "Thanks for the help."

He handed me a check and I bid him farewell, after calling an Uber to take me home.

I barged into my office and was greeted by Derp sleeping on the doormat. Apparently he missed me. Gently I picked him up, "Another case solved, buddy. Let's go eat."


	4. Case 7:  Cock Block

My phone rang, waking me up on my day off. Before I answered I looked at the time. 5:49am. _Disgusting_. Who would call me at this time?

I looked at the caller ID. _Great_. Moira.

"Somebody better be dead," I growled in greeting.

"Somebody is, actually," she greeted me sounding way too awake for how early it was. "We think there might be more than one connected somebody."

I was instantly awake and hopping out of bed. "You mean you have a serial killer?"

"Yup."

I paused, "Why the hell are you calling me?"

"I need your super observation skills," she confessed.

I rolled my eyes, "Don't you have people with you who are paid to do that?"

She whined, "But, they're not as good as you."

"Flattery will get you everywhere, darling," I preened.

I quickly put some food in Derp's dish and ran out the door.

"Can you text me the address?" I asked Moira.

"Already on it," she confirmed right as I heard my phone ding saying I got a message.

I quickly bid her goodbye and hopped in my car to go to the address she had sent me. This was definitely a step up from cats and Christmas lights. I liked when Moira decided to throw me a bone like this. It happened every once in a while. But this is the first time it's happened since I'm a self-employed private investigator who nobody seems to want to hire. Maybe I should stop screwing anything that has a pulse. Maybe I had a different kind of reputation other than how awesome I am at solving puzzles. Because that's all these cases were to me: puzzles. Albeit, some were easier than others. I loved me a good puzzle, something that challenged me. And above all else, I loved solving crimes with a certain amount of passion involved. Murder was great for passion so I had hopes that this case would tickle my fancy more than the first six had.

I hopped out of my car and quickly slid beneath the barricades the investigators put up paying no mind to the woman, who was obviously new here, yelling at me to get back. Something about contaminating the evidence, or whatever they tell to mundane everyday people at crime scenes. I've never been at a crime scene as a _normal_ person. I was always there as a consultant.

Spotting Moira, I made a beeline for her with the newbie still on my heels.

She was standing next to a young male, diseased. One look at the body told me this was going to be a _lot_ more interesting than my first six cases. Oh good, I love when I'm right.

"How's it going?" I greeted at the same time the lady chasing me said, "Ma'am, I told him to stop."

At her addressing Moira as Ma'am I stifled a laugh, especially when I saw Moira's eyebrow twitch in annoyance. "He's the detective I called in," she snapped at the lady.

Said lady flinched as if she had been bitten which I also found interesting. There's something going on with that one. She scurried away with her tail between her legs. I raised an eyebrow at Moira. "Don't ask," she grumbled. Motioning to the victim she then asked, "what do you see?"

She stood back and let me do my thing. You see, one of my more eerie talents was being able to really put myself in the shoes of the victim and see what they saw, or refused to see in their situation. I'm not sure if anything about this ability of mine was supernatural, and quite frankly I didn't care but the fact of the matter was that I saw crime, plain as day as I examined the body.

When I was just discovering this nifty little ability it used to scare the crap out of me. I would often get overwhelmed by the visions I saw. There was some scary stuff out there. Stuff I couldn't control with my last place of work. But that's for another time. I quit that job and started up this job after I learned how to control the visions better.

I crouched next to the body. He was young. My age, maybe a little older. Chestnut hair cut short and golden skin. A real looker, similar in build to myself. The word twink popped into my head for some reason even though I wouldn't classify him or myself as one. There was dried saliva dribbling out of his mouth along with another substance that I was all too familiar with when it shot down my throat in the throes of passion with some of my male lovers. His wrists also had some light chafing. I bent closer to one of them to examine the irritation closer. There was a smell there too. "Latex?"

"What?" Moira piped up hearing my question.

I ignored her inquiry and asked instead, "What's the victim's name?"

She looked at her clipboard. "Dustin Brown."

Staring intently at the man I thought, _what happened to you, Dustin_?

I didn't have to wait long for an answer.

I don't think I would ever get used to the jarring sensations of a vision (I can't think of a better name for this other than a vision.)

_I had just gotten back from a late night at the club where I worked. I was the bartender and used to making polite but idle chit chat with all kinds of people who wanted to dump all of their life problems onto my shoulders. "Hey, Twink," blast that unfortunate nickname, "How 'bout another drink._

_Shaking my head, I continued to clean the glass I had just washed, "I'm cutting you off Lemmy. It's last call and you're smashed."_

_Lemmy shrugged and pouted. It was funny seeing the big man so sad over not getting another drink. But he knew from past experiences that I wouldn't budge._

_Slowly the patrons left the bar and I went into the break room to pick up my heavy winter coat. It was still cold outside and I definitely needed a coat with the way I dressed for work. I had long ago realized that if I showed more skin those men with lecherous gazes would tip me better and I wasn't ashamed that I used that knowledge to my advantage. Needed to pay my way through college somehow. Never had I slept with one of them and they were fine with that. They just wanted the eye candy._

_I put my coat on and began the three block walk to my apartment building. There were people bustling around me like it wasn't 2:00am. Someone stepped on my foot with their heeled shoe and another person ran right into my shoulder without so much as an apology._

_Same shit, different night._

_When I got to my small house I put my key into the door to unlock it. I turned the door only to find it locked. Confusion and unease shot through me like a lightning bolt. Why had my door been open? I was certain just, like every other day, I had locked it before going to work. I never forgot to lock it._

_Instead of taking that sign and running with it, I decided I must have forgotten to lock it. With a shrug of my shoulders I unlocked my door again and entered my house._

_I heard talking. My heart leapt to my throat in alarm before I realized that it was my TV. Must have left that on, too, man, I was really having an off night. All I wanted to do was jump onto my futon and sleep until my shift tomorrow._

_I turned into the doorway of my living room and made my way over to the TV. I went to grab my remote off of the end table only to see it on the floor. "That's odd," I verbalized as I bent over to pick up the remote. When I stood back up to turn the TV off I yelped and dropped the remote right back onto the floor. There was a man standing in my living room._

_"Hello Dustin," he purred._

_I took a good look at the man. He had gained probably close to 50 pounds but I still knew that face. Chance. Oh god, it was Chance. I felt bile rise in my throat. Swallowing thickly I addressed him with as much courage as I could muster, "What do you want." I was proud of myself, not even a waver in my voice._

_He strolled around the couch and I realized he was wearing his clown garb. "What I want..." he began. He came closer to me and I backed up. If I kept backing up, I'd be against a wall, but I'd also be right next to my desk. There was a pair of scissors on it. "What I want..." he sang as I continued backing away._

_I felt my back bump the wall. He caged me in with his arms. I grabbed the scissors. "What I want is for you to suffer as much as you've made me suffer," he growled darkly as he brought his hands around my neck._

_Oh my god, why was this happening? I swung my arm with all of my force, scissors held tightly in hand and managed to stab him in the shoulder. He howled in pain and I used that opportunity to run for my front door._

_I had my hand on the knob when I was tackled from behind. "Why are you fighting me, Dustin?" Chance asked as if he couldn't figure out what could possess me to run from him._

_He was pulling something out of his pocket. Balloons? All the while mumbling, "Didn't want to do it this way, but you're forcing me." he grabbed my wrists roughly and shook me. "You're forcing me, you hear?" he screamed in my face._

_He punched me in the head. Over and over again. I could barely move. He tied my wrists together. With the balloons? Still muttering, "Didn't want to do this."_

_I felt flesh touching my lips. Then it moved into my mouth. He had his way as I choked and wept. After he finished he threw me to the ground. "Not finished with you yet," he mumbled._

_Through my swollen eyes I could see him holding a rubber chicken. Where the hell had he pulled_ that _from?_

_He menacingly approached me. It seemed almost in slow motion. Taking the rubber chicken he shoved it down my throat blocking my airway. The urge to breathe was intense but not possible. My lungs were burning. I passed out._

I gasped and inhaled a large gulp of air. When I let the visions get the better of me, it was as if I was experiencing exactly what they were experiencing. I still felt the sting on my face from the punches, the ache in my throat from the multiple intrusions.

I looked at the position of the body. How had he gotten outside?

That I didn't know. I had seen the victim's side not the killer's point of view. I wasn't sure what determined which side of the story I viewed and maybe I'd never know.

"Well," I know what happened to him," I confessed to Moira.

I relayed all of the information to her that I had experienced in the vision, "I don't understand how you do that," Moira stated in wonder.

More subdued after what I'd seen I remembered, "You said there were more victims?"

She nodded, "You're not gonna like where we're headed."

She left the scene with me following hot on her bumper.

"You're right," I pouted as we headed into the morgue, "I don't like where we're headed."

I hated morgues. They were one of the worst places for someone like me. Morgues and hospitals of any kind. It was a never ending chance of me falling into one of my visions. And having too many was never good. They left me feeling cold and drained.

We descended into the basement and headed towards bodies that were being kept on ice.

The room was chilly where the four other victims were kept but nothing compared to the chill I felt. One by one I succumbed to visions for each of the young men in the room. I learned that Chance Deibert was the killer. And these young men were all past lovers with the clown. They had all broken up with him for one reason or another and he couldn't stand it.

It made him angry enough to kill.

I shakily relayed this information to Moira so she could continue with the case.

I shivered. Moira hugged me around the heavy blanket that had been draped over my shoulders. They had taken me upstairs to the main floor and sat me in front of a fire. Sweat was dripping from my hair and still I felt cold. A cup of hot coco was in my hands. I was clutching it more for warmth than anything else but every once in awhile I would bring the scorching liquid trickle down my throat in an attempt to burn me from the inside out.

"Thanks for your help, Dominick," Moira whispered in my ear, "I know this isn't easy for you to do."

"I like the hard ones," I softly stated in a weak attempt at a joke.

She rolled her eyes and gently hit me on the shoulder. "Glad to see you're going to be fine."

Chuckling, I continued to drink my hot chocolate.

I said my farewell to Moira and went home to hug my cat.

Maybe it was a good thing I had a lot of dinky. If I had to do that all the time I wouldn't be able to function. Probably go insane or something.

When I got home I fed Derp and went right to bed. He jumped up onto the bed to snuggle with me and I hugged him tightly. No going out tonight. I felt like I could sleep for a year.

* * *

The next day I got a call from Moira saying they went to Chance's house to pull him in for questioning. He wouldn't come peacefully and ended up shooting himself in the head with a pistol. Not quite the ending I would have liked for the case to have but at least the man would not be able to hurt anymore of his past lovers.


	5. Case 10:  Takes a Stripper

Since solving that murder case I have been getting steadier business and better cases. Gone were the days of cats and Christmas lights. Alright, that was a lie, but the number of small cases had lessened and I got to solve more challenging cases with my puzzle solving brain. I hadn't had any more murder cases which I was relieved about. I can't even imagine the toll it would take on me and the community if we had regular murders in this area. The quiet town I live in would freak out and probably erect a barrier to keep out all outsiders. Which would also keep in the problem, but that's definitely what they'd do.

I was reading a letter asking for help with a case in a neighboring area. I say area rather than town because it encompassed several towns to the east of my own happy little bubble. Apparently, there was a thief stripping rooms of all of their belongings. Nothing was left including evidence and it was leaving the local police baffled. Since there were no bodies involved, my visions weren't going to be much help but I certainly wasn't useless without them.

Decision to help made, I called the chief of police and set up a time to get briefed about the case in person. She apparently wanted this whole ordeal over with quickly and agreed to meet with me that afternoon.

When the time to meet her came I drove my car to their station and walked inside. Wasn't really sure where to go so I did the socially acceptable thing and stopped at the front desk. Where I then had to wait for the man running it to stop texting and pay attention.

He gave me a bored look and drolled, "Can I help you?"

Suppressing the urge to roll my eyes I responded, "I'm here to meet with Chief Rebecca Saunders."

Giving me an unimpressed look he called the chief. I could tell from his very audible phone call that he thought I was an idiot and that I had made up the meeting for some reason or another. "What's your name?" he asked while still on the phone.

I replied ignoring the snotty look he was throwing me, "Dominick Kinsey." Once I said my name his whole demeanor changed. He became coy, flirty, and was doing anything to flatter me. Kiss ass. And let me tell you, if I would have had more time I would have gladly let him kiss my ass, along with a few other pieces of my anatomy.

As it turned out, Chief Saunders wanted to get this whole thing over with pronto and briskly came out to meet me. She shook my hand and ushered me back to her office.

Once she closed the door and offered me a seat I plopped into the chair in front of her desk. _Not bad_. "That man was so _pleasant_ ," I informed with a pleasant tone that's sarcasm couldn't be missed.

"Oh, Jimmy?" she inquired. "He's just angry because he was demoted."

Well, that explained his IDGARA attitude.

"So... these cases..." I began awkwardly.

"All I have right now is a case file," she threw a packed folder in my direction. "I'm hoping that, by some miracle, we'll get a call in that someone's house has been stripped."

What is the likeliness of that?

No sooner had I thought that than the phone was ringing giving the chief the location of the next stripped room. "Just call me the miracle worker," I joked as she ushered me out of the building and towards her car.

Once at the crime scene, I looked around searching for anything that stuck out to me. There were plenty of people hanging around outside, we were in an apartment building, after all. The person who had been robbed was crying in the arms of a neighbor.

There was nothing in the room. No odors. No fabrics. No blood. No prints of any kind. It was like our thief took a vacuum, cartoon style and sucked everything up. I was honestly a little stumped. There was quite literally nothing for me to go on.

I turned to the chief, "I need to think about this over night."

"Crazy, isn't it?"

"Little bit," I agreed, "I'll wait outside while you do whatever you need to do here."

"I'll be finished in 10 minutes," she promised as I left the building.

Exactly 10 minutes later I was headed back to the police station to get my car.

* * *

I decided that I would go out tonight to take my mind off this case. I didn't want to think about it too much and get myself locked into a false conclusion.

Tonight I decided to go to a grittier club than normal. I wore my tight ripped jeans and my favorite classy black button down. This outfit always made me feel pretty damn sexy. After all clothes do maketh the man. I was dressed like sin and I was hoping me and some others would do some sinning tonight.

At the club I immediately found two girls. They introduced themselves as Mary and Marie. Why was everyone I decided to fuck named something similar? They were "best friends" and apparently always shared. We didn't even make it to my house. They wanted a quick shag in the back alley and there's nothing wrong with an audience on the street, in my opinion, so I decided to oblige their request.

Once we finished I walked back into the bar pleasantly satisfied. I was almost in a daze, so much of a daze that I ran into a man. I apologized and went over to the bar to order a drink. When I went to pull out my wallet it wasn't there. Thinking back I realized that man must have swiped it when he "accidentally" bumped into me.

Nope, this wouldn't do. I hopped off of my stool at the bar promising to bring my wallet back to pay for the drink. The bartender just scowled at me in response to my charming declaration.

I went back to where we had run into each other to help jog my memory. He had been taller than me. If I had to guess he was probably about 6'3". He had dark skin and a clean shaved head. Honestly, he was pretty damn good looking.

I found stairs leading up to a VIP section. Why did this seedy bar have a VIP section? To my surprise the bouncer let me right up. He told me Mr. Taylor was waiting for me. Who the heck was Mr. Taylor?

Sure enough, when I got to the top of the steps, there was someone waiting to lead me to a table and at that table was the man from earlier twirling my wallet around his fingers. "Dominick Kinsey, please take a seat," he invited the picture of decorum.

I huffed as I slumped in the offered chair crossing my arms over my chest. Petulant, you bet you, but he _had_ stolen my wallet.

"You're a hard man to find," the man purred full of a deadly confidence.

"I have to disagree," I spoke before I could stop myself and then it all turned into word vomit from there, "I'm pretty easy to find. I have my name marked clearly on my building and I put ads out with my address all the time and..." I trailed off.

He was smirking at me.

"Why are you laughing at me?" I asked indignantly. "And give me my wallet." I added for good measure. Not waiting for him to give it to me, I decided to lunge across the table and get it from him myself. All this ended up doing was me grabbing the wallet and being yanked onto his lap when neither of us would let go of _my_ wallet.

He kept my wallet out of reach and wrapped his arms around my middle. I struggled because I don't know how to admit defeat when I'm in a losing battle and didn't stop struggling to get out of his grasp until I was tuckered out. "You done now?" he asked like he expected more of a fight from me. That haughty attitude of his caused a resurgence of anger and adrenaline on my part and my struggles began again along with some colorful choices of vocabulary. He let me say my fill and tire myself out before he leaned forward and spoke into my ear. His breath tickled my ear as he said at no louder than a whisper.

"I know who your thief is."

I pushed away from him and he let me. "How the hell do you know that?" I bellowed. He had to be yanking my chain,

He shook his head, "Not here."

"Why not?" I practically whined.

"You ever hear that saying, 'the walls have ears?'"

I didn't need to be told anything else. "Where do you want to talk?" That's the only thing I still needed to know.

"How about you come back to mine?"

* * *

His place was huge. I was definitely green with envy. "How is your house so large?" I asked in shock.

"That's not the only thing about me that's large," he flirted.

I fired back, "Yeah, I'm surprised your ego fits in this house."

Here he laughed, "You are definitely something."

"If you really want to know how I got this house, I am a businessman," he finally answered. "And the reason I know who you're looking for is because before I was a successful businessman, I was a thief."

"Right..." Definitely didn't believe him.

"Ever hear of Ezriah Taylor?"

Of course I had. Who hasn't? He was a renowned thief who stole some of the most priceless items from some important people. The details escape me. I didn't really care about crime at the time. I think I might have been in seventh grade when he decided to stop thieving. Last I heard he had decided to work with the government in an exchange for a pardon for his less than legal dealings.

Wait... this man was addressed as Mr. Taylor. I gave him a scrutinizing look, "Wait, you're _Ezriah Taylor_?" I couldn't even believe it.

"In the flesh," he grinned. It was a grin full of wicked promise. Took everything in me to suppress the shivers of pleasure that wanted to make themselves known. Everything about this man I wanted.

He sat down at his dining room table and motioned for me to sit next to him. "Your thief's name is Bianca Lippet. She's honestly kind of a petty thief. Her crimes have no artistry behind them," he trailed off probably thinking about thefts that he deemed artistic.

"Okay?" I began slowly. "Can you help me catch her?"

"No," Ezriah answered.

Angry I burst out, "Why the hell not."

He put up a passifying hand. "Patience, Dominick. I will not help you catch her but I will tell you where she's going to strike next."

Without expecting anything in return he told me everything I needed to know. The sun was rising when I finally decided I better go home and get some rest.

Ezriah insisted on having one of his drivers take me home. Freaking ex-thief lives like a king. Before I left he said goodbye, "Until next time, Dominick," he spoke formally his tone rich like melted chocolate.

I gave my more juvenile farewell of, "See yah, Ezi," hoping to annoy him.

Unfortunately, it looked like he liked the nick name. A lot.

As soon as it was a reasonable hour, I called Rebecca and let her know the time, date and location of Bianca's next stripping. Later that day the chief called to tell me they had the thief in custody. They caught her.

I snuggled up to my pillow planning to sleep for the next 48 hours, at least. Derp cuddled beside me all too okay with my plan. 


	6. Case 13:  Balls to the Wall Part 1

As soon as I started to descend the stairs into my office for another day of waiting for something to happen I could sense that there was somebody in my shop. I quieted my breathing and slowed my steps to reduce the amount of noise I was making. My goal was to be as quiet as possible until I figured out if the person in my shop was a threat. After all, I had locked up before going to bed the night before, just like I did every night at the end of my insanely boring shifts, so there should be no reason a friendly party had gotten into my shop. Someone would have had to break in.

I tiptoed into the room and made my way over to my desk chair, where I could just see the top of a brown head sitting tall in my chair. They either didn't hear me or were just very comfortable sitting in my desk chair. Playing with _my_ slinky.

I was just about to put a hand on my chair and swivel it around when the person spoke. "Hello, Dominick," the man purred, voice like liquid honey. I'm not ashamed to say I jumped when he addressed me. But I would never admit to anyone, especially the man sitting in the chair, that I almost shrieked in alarm.

"What the fuck are you doing here, Ezi?" I greeted, as the man spun around to face me.

"I missed you," he said with a fake pout.

"Sure you did," I replied with a roll of my eyes.

"What, you didn't miss me?"

"I missed you about as much as I'd miss a cactus toothbrush," I stated and a smirk started to form on his face. Apparently he found that remark funny. Switching subjects to the matter at hand, I asked, "Why are you here?"

Getting up out of my chair he stretched. I definitely ogled him as his shirt came up just far enough for me to catch a glimpse of his muscles underneath. What I wouldn't give to lick _something_ off of those. Before I had time to process much Ezriah Taylor had pulled me flush against him.

"What the fuck," I seethed trying to push myself away. I barely moved. Why is this guy so strong?

He leaned forward, not minding my struggles one bit, and sensually spoke into my ear, "I know you missed me."

"Dammit," I hissed as shivers coursed through my body. That voice was a sin. I pushed away and this time he let me go.

I gave him a look over as he sat in my seat again, legs crossed with elbows resting on the arm rests. His fingers were folded together and every once and a while he would move one to an imaginary beat, lost in thought. His brown eyes seemed far away as he looked intently past me. There was something about him that made me want to do things that I never did. Like, let's say, fuck him more than once. I shook my head, as if that very action could dispel that thought from my brain. There was a reason I didn't do relationships. I just needed to remember that. Wow, his gaze is really unnerving. I can't even imagine what it would be like if he was actually focusing on me.

After a few minutes of this treatment Ezriah spoke. An acquaintance of mine needs your help," he was silent for a few minutes before continuing on. "People are going missing in his neighborhood. According to his team, there's nothing that links the individuals," here he sighed. "Nothing except Brandt Park."

"Brandt Park?" I'd heard of that park. It was about 45 minutes away from here in a ritzy part of town. I had been surprised that there hadn't been word about a string of disappearances, but after hearing that it centered around _that_ community, I was no longer surprised. The people that lived there cared more about their reputations than they did for their families. There was no way they'd let a scandal like a missing person or five get out into the media and tarnish their good names.

"So, let me guess, they want me to go and question people in the area in hope that I'll see something they missed when they already questioned the area?" I surmised with a sigh of boredom.

"Not just a pretty face, are you," Ezriah complimented, if you could call it that. The remark definitely put a scowl on my face.

I crossed my arms, scowl still in place, "I don't want to help." I was really just being petulant, I'd help, even though it was going to be boring as hell.

"Why not?" Ezi asked. He seemed surprised by my refusal.

As a reply to his question I continued to glare at him.

"Ohhh," he realized he offended me, apparently. "Yeah, get used to it cupcake, I'm not changing how I talk for anyone. Not even you."

"What the hell?" He came here asking for my help and then insults me and won't apologize... I wonder if I should feel special, not being lumped into the anyone group.

He got out of my chair and strolled slowly towards my front door. Looking back over his shoulder Ezriah gave me a look expectantly. "Well, are you coming?"

"Why the hell would I follow you after all that?" I growled even as I made my way over to the door.

Close to an hour later found me at the police station in charge of this investigation a smug Ezriah standing next to me.

"Shut up," I said to Ezriah. He hadn't said anything but the look he was giving me said enough.

* * *

Two hours later, found us leaving the police station with all of the information we needed to question the neighborhood. I was in a cross mood. Turning to Ezi with a grumpy pout I groussed, "How can you stand to talk to him? He wouldn't shut up." The chief of police, who was apparently an acquaintance of Ezriah's was not someone I wanted to conduct business with on a regular basis. Or, really ever again.

Ezriah had the gall to laugh at my suffering, "He's," he began really thinking over what he was going to say about Chief Joseph Smith, "an acquired taste."

"That's what they told me about beer and coffee. I think it's easier not to drink them," I didn't want to be around people that I needed to practice to like. Or really practice being in the same room with them without ripping their head off. That's what I feared would happen if we were in there a few minutes longer.

We did learn details about the case, but I could have had all that information in about fifteen minutes and saved myself some aggravation.

There were apparently five people who had gone missing as of now. There was no pattern. The only thing linking them seemed to be Brandt Park. So we decided to question the people around the perimeter. We were asking the people if they had seen any of the victims or noticed anything suspicious. We even had some nifty photographs of the victims. There was Saidie, a girl of twelve with brown hair, green eyes and some wicked neon green braces. There was Miguel, whose hair was almost black and was cut into an unfortunate bowl cut. He was only four, I'd have to talk to his parents about that haircut. There was Donovan who was forty-nine and had salt and pepper hair and a nose ring. Gregory was a flat up hipster, probably the closest to my age and he had the ugliest pair of horn rimmed glasses I had ever seen. They were see through at parts with a black almost leopard looking print on them. I'd have to have a talk with him about his life choices. And then there was Bianca, a petite blonde of 35.

We started our questioning and much to my dismay the first six houses hadn't even seen the missing people. When we arrived at house number seven I was immediately surprised at how _basic_ the house was, considering it lived near Brandt Park. It did have a really nice white picket fence on the side that faced the park. A nice simple way to tell the people in the park, "fuck off, this is my yard." I liked this person's style already. We knocked on the door. Nobody answered.

"Want to continue on and come back to this house at the end?" Ezriah suggested.

Shrugging, I decided that idea was for the best and we continued our questioning. House Eight had a very nice couple named Mark and Gavin. They invited us in and I accepted graciously. "It's a shame to hear about all of those people going missing," Gavin addressed us.

"I thought that information wasn't something the public was supposed to know," I spoke with a certain amount of confusion laced in my tone. Of course, I knew why they knew about the missing people. They'd been questioned about them once already. But sometimes it didn't hurt to play dumb.

"Silly," Mark hit me lightly on the shoulder, "We've been questioned already.

"But," Gavin licked his lips in a way that was supposed to be sultry, I think, "They weren't nearly as attractive as you," he was eye fucking Ezi, and Ezriah Taylor was just letting it happen with a sexy smirk on his smug face.

I felt an emotion flare to life inside of me that I couldn't name right away. After further analyzing the situation I realized it had to be jealousy. _Oh, hell no_. There's no way I'm jealous... Gavin put his hand on Ezriah's thigh causing Ezi to raise a questioning brow.

That's it. I grabbed Ezriah's hand possessively and brought it close to my mouth before speaking. "My _partner_ and I must be going now," I said politely, although it sounded more like, _back off bitch, this one's mine._ And for good measure, I licked Ezi's hand.

"What the hell?" he yelped yanking his hand away from mine and wiping it on his pants.

"You know you like it," I said coyly before walking out of house eight without a backwards glance. I could hear Ezi scrambling after me.

Once we were on the way to house nine, Ezriah gave me a calculating look, "What was that all about?"

"What?" I decided to, once again play dumb.

He didn't fall for it. "Nevermind," he said instead.

We finished up houses nine through fifteen with little success. People had seen the victims the day they were taken in the park. That's about it. They didn't notice anything strange which was... _strange._

"Back to house seven?" Ezriah suggested.

We knocked on my favorite house's door and a cute little old lady answered. She was a stereotypical grandma figure if I ever saw one. Round bifocals sat upon a slightly large nose. She had a curly perm hairdo and was fairly plump. If she had baked cookies, I'd die and go to heaven. "Hello, young men, what brings you here?" Granny asked.

"I'm Dominick and this is Ezriah. We're here to ask you some questions about the recent disappearances in the neighborhood," I greeted her while offering my hand for her to shake. Once she shook my hand, Ezriah offered his too.

A dark look flitted over her countenance for a brief second. "Isn't it a shame? Those poor people," she looked properly sad. And something about that look bothered me. "Do you have any clue as to what happened to them?" she asked with interest.

Ezriah spoke up, "That's what we're trying to figure out, ma'am." Why was he so polite to her?

We continued to question her in her living room. I let Ezi do most of the talking in favor of looking around the room closer, a tactic that we had been doing at nearly every residence so far. This lady's house was neat. There were doilies and potpourri seemingly everywhere. On top of the mantel, coffee table and every end table. Even the desk that was in the back corner had a doily and a bowl of stinky potpourri. And sitting right next to the bowl of potpourri was a pair of horn rimmed glasses. Ugly horn rimmed glasses that were see through at spots and appeared to be leopard print. _Fuck_. Not caring that I was interrupting their jovial conversation I blurted out, "Whose glasses are those?"

The lady looked to her desk in alarm and stuttered, "They're my husband's."

Damn, should have been a little more subtle, she's gonna kick ups out now...

"I think it's time for you two to leave."

Knew it.

As soon as we were a respectable distance away from the house Ezrian cast an excited look in my direction, "Tell me those weren't one of the victim's glasses."

"Those weren't one of the victim's glasses," I repeated while sticking my tongue out at him.

"What do we do now?"

"Ask for an expedited search warrant?"

* * *

Shit for brains Joseph Smith wouldn't let us get a search warrant. He said there wasn't enough proof. There wasn't enough proof, my ass. Apparently glasses weren't enough proof. Because, "she said they were her husbands." Like old ladys can't fucking lie like the rest of the planet.

I stormed out of the police station in a silent simmering rage. Ezriah followed me at a loss of what else he could be doing. I approached Brandt Park and made my way towards the shabby house. Staring, I was gonna stare at it until something happened.

"You can stare at it all you want, but that's not gonna magically get you a search warrant. Might get you a restraining order though," Ezi said thoughtfully as he watched the old lady look out her window, catch a glimpse of me and quickly pull the curtains tight together.

I heaved a sigh of frustration, "she's the person of interest, though." This was so dumb. I started pacing the length of the fence.

Ezriah watched me in mild amusement as I continued to pace.

I staggered and noticed a look of alarm, a fleeting thing really, on Ezriah's face. I suddenly have the urge to vomit. There were swirling colors and an unmistakable taste of ginger snaps.

Fuck. I think I'm having a vision. Was all that managed to pass through my mind before I passed out.


	7. Case 13:  Balls to the Wall Part 2

I was awoken by the throbbing in my head. I reluctantly peeled my eyes open and promptly closed them when everything was out of focus and bright like an overexposed photograph. Thinking back to the last thing I remembered had me confused. Did I really have a vision without touching a person? That was strange. It was different. More unusual than normal. And truthfully it frightened me a little bit. Until now my visions had always been something that I could manage pretty easily. After I figured out how to control them, that is...

What I had seen when I passed out, it had been intense. I now knew exactly what we had to do to get these people to safety. That is... if they're still alive. I didn't know how current what I saw was after all. My mind replayed the vision again.

"What the hell?" I sighed still with my eyes closed.

"That's exactly what I'd like to know," a slightly amused voice called out.

My eyes popped open in alarm. I didn't realize anyone was with me and nearly rolled off of the couch. "Why are you here?" I asked Ezriah who was sitting at my kitchen table with his legs crossed. Right at home, I see.

"Is that any way to treat the guy who carried you back here after you fainted?" the last three words were said mockingly.

"I passed out," I argued. Fainting sounded so _weak_ in comparison.

Ezi shrugged, "To _may_ to, to _mah_ to." He had a wicked grin on his face that told me he wasn't going to forget about this little incident easily.

He was gonna lord this over my head for a while, I could tell. Was it too late to cut ties with him? I looked over at his smirking face and felt my heart skip a beat.

"But seriously, what the hell happened there, Dominick?" His playfulness was gone and I was amazed at his ability to get down to business and be serious, a far cry from his usual flirty self, at the drop of a hat.

I moved to a sitting position and rubbed a hand on the back of my neck. How do I explain this? Because I did feel like I owed him one hell of an explanation. I took a deep breath in and then let it out. Guess this was just going to be a leap of faith on my end. I wasn't ready for the reaction this might get but time was of the essence, or something like that. Hopefully my admission would be like ripping off a band-aid. Side note: that's actually a bad analogy for me because I'm kind of allergic to them. They stick so well to my skin that the adhesive adheres permanently and rips off all of the skin it touches. That long winded explanation is why I usually just tell people I'm allergic to them.

I looked Ezriah in the eyes trying to show him that I was dead serious with what I was about to say, "I know what we have to do. I know where the hostages are, or were."

He looked at me skeptically, "How can you possibly know that?"

This was it just rip it off and hope for the best,"Ihavevisions," I said in a rush.

"What? I didn't quite get that," Ezriah admitted with the barest hint of a chuckle.

Why was he so difficult? "I have visions," I closed my eyes tightly not wanting to see the reaction to my statement on his face. In his eyes. What if I could see hate there? Or worse still, what if there was fear there? Fear and loathing?

He took a few steps and I imagined him heading for the door. Imagine my surprise when a warm hand was placed on top of my head. I opened my eyes and looked up at him hopefully. He looked down at me and asked, "What do we have to do?"

The smile on my face must have let him know that he had said the right thing.

Ezriah held up his hands to stop my talking before I had even begun. "Don't think this conversation is over. We're finishing up this investigation and then I'm going to ask you more about these _visions,_ as you call them."

I knew it couldn't be that easy.

* * *

"Are you sure we should be doing this?" Ezriah raised his voice as I strode a good forty feet away from him. "Shouldn't we be doing something more... productive?"

"Just throw the damn ball, Ezi," I said shortly.

I decided it was as good a time as any to close down the shop for a few hours and go throw a ball in the park. Ezriah had reluctantly agreed to be my throwing partner. We each had on a baseball glove and Ezi had a brand new baseball in his hands.

"Why are you standing so far away?" He yelled in alarm. "I don't know if I can make it to you."

"Try it."

He threw the ball and I had to run to the left to catch it, but it made it. I threw it back. We started a little game of catch, with both sides running for the occasional off throw. After a few minutes of this back and forth, Ezriah threw one and as soon as he let it fly, I knew there was no way in hell I was going to be catching it. Still, I did not admit defeat because I'm competitive and a bit of a fool. I ran after that sucker straight up until I ran up to the fence from yesterday. The place where I had my vision. I jumped to catch the ball, but it was still too high. It soared over the fence and into the grandma's yard.

Ezriah ran up to me with a guilty look on his face.

"If you didn't want to throw anymore, you could have let me know instead of losing the ball over the fence," I griped, making it sound like I thought he lost the ball on purpose.

"I just wanted to see if you'd get it without falling on your ass," he smirked. "And you did... almost ran into a fence though." he added playfully.

I just rolled my eyes at the comment.

"What now?" he asked me.

I looked at the sky, it was getting dark. "Why don't you go back to my apartment and wait for me there? I'll go talk to the lady _again_."

He nodded his head in agreement.

As I walked over to the front door I turned to Ezriah one final time only to see that he had been gazing at a certain asset of mine. "Were you just looking at my butt?"

Wolfishly he smirked but didn't deny doing it, simply turned around and began strolling in the direction of my home.

Whatever, we could talk more about appropriate places for eyes to be later. Now, I needed to get my ball back. "Ezriah," I called a little hesitant. There was so much I wanted to say to him at that moment. I had this weird sense that I was, in a way, saying goodbye. Which was absolutely ridiculous but I couldn't change that feeling. It coursed deep inside of me. He was looking at me in question. Shit, what should I say to him? I called him and now needed to narrow all of these feelings down into one sentence. There wasn't enough time to say what I felt needed to be said. "Feed Derp so he doesn't eat your shoelaces."

He looked horrified that my cat would even think of eating shoelaces.

I smirked as I knocked on the familiar house. Derp didn't eat shoelaces.

The same stereotypical grandma figure answered the door.

"How can I help you, sir?" she greeted in her frail sounding voice a pleasant smile on her face.

 _I'm onto you, grandma_ , I smiled before saying, "My friend and I were playing catch and we threw it in your yard by accident. Would you be able to let me get my ball?" I asked with a forced smile that I was hoping read as pleasant. "I'll be out of your hair as quickly as possible," I hastily added onto the end.

"That's no problem, no problem at all but... before you get your ball back, would you like some milk and cookies. I just made them and I don't get too many visitors to share them with," she looked at me imploringly.

Man, I was a sucker for old people. Especially lonely old people. "If you're sure it wouldn't be any trouble," I responded hesitantly.

She smiled, "No trouble at all."

I was ushered into her living room while she went to the kitchen. She returned with a little tray with two glasses of milk and two plates filled with classic chocolate chip goodness. She offered me a plate and I wasted no time in devouring the cookies.

"These are good," I complemented and she preened. "Are there almonds in these?"

She seemed surprised for a second before answering, "Yes there are... I'm surprised you can taste them... most people... can't."

Something about her response bothered me. I could practically see the ellipses of hesitation in her sentence.

I drank the milk slowly savoring the refreshing beverage all the while listening to this granny chat. Occasionally I would add comments or appropriate noises of interest but mostly, she was content speaking to me.

When her most recent story wrapped up she suggested that she lead me to get my ball from her backyard. I nodded agreeing with her suggestion. Standing up from my seat on the couch caused a sudden rush of dizziness causing me to stagger. _Weird_.

She noticed too, "Are you okay, dear?"

I rubbed my temples, a headache seemed to be coming on fast, "Fine, just stood up too fast, I think."

As we continued to make our way to her back yard my headache worsened. My dizziness came back and I could practically feel my heart beating out of my chest. I felt extremely strange, weak as a kitten yet extremely restless, like I couldn't stay still. She opened her back door to motion me through it and turned around to face me, her countenance quickly morphing into something akin to alarm.

I soon realized the reason for this alarm as I fell to the floor.

"Oh dear, you're not well at all," she said with concern.

She led me back to the couch in her living room. I was mildly impressed that she was able to carry so much of my weight.

I was given a cup of water which I sipped slowly. I really felt like crap. Like at any moment I would pass out or vomit all over.

"I don't feel too... too good," I said around a yawn." What the hell, now I'm tired too.

"Yes," the lady said in a silky and smarmy tone. It was such a contrast to how she had been acting thus far that I turned my unfocused gaze toward her face. She smiled. It wasn't a kind smile. To tell you the truth, it was one of the scariest things I had ever seen in my life. Grandma's weren't supposed to be scary. It was like some kind of unwritten rule. The Grandma Code, or something like that. "I will say," she spoke with a hard edge to her voice, "It took you much longer to show symptoms than the others."

It was getting increasingly hard to keep my eyes open. She walked over to me with that creepy smile still present on her face. "You'll be joining them soon."

That haunting promise along with her bell-like laughter were the last things I heard before I finally succumbed to sleep.

* * *

Waking up I found myself in a dimly lit room, I think it was a basement, and very much chained to the wall. I could hear sobbing all around me. A gruff old man hanging down the way said, "Great another idiot to get himself caught."

This tactless sentence caused the younger victims to cry harder.

"I'm a detective," I said as if this explained everything.

"Some detective," the man continued, "how are you doing us any good if you're in here with us?"" _I'm_ in here," I agreed, implying as strongly as I could that my partner, if I could call Ezi that, was not in here. There was still hope.

The room became silent once more, except for the soft crying of the children.

I took in more of my surroundings noting, first and foremost, that all the missing people were alive and chained to a wall in the basement.

Directly across from each of us on the opposite wall was our ball, or Frisbee in one case. They were all adhered to the wall in various ways. She really took the balls from the backyard and fastened them to her basement walls. Mine had a large knife stabbing it straight through. The amount of strength that had to take was _impressive_. Which is probably not the right thought to have about a certain old lady. The balls on the walls also had the effect of reminding me of a certain band who had a certain song that would definitely be my case file name.

After a substantial amount of time had passed with that song stuck in my head I decided I needed to do something to assuage the fears of the other occupants in this room. "Don't worry, some people will be here soon to get us all out of here," I said, sounding as cheerful as I could.

To my surprise the children began crying harder and the old man laughed, "Yeah, we all thought that at one time. Actually, I just hoped my dear _wife_ would come to her senses.""Oh. my. God. You're _married_ to that woman?" I was absolutely shocked.

"We're estranged. I gave her divorce papers to sign and she gave me," he trailed off. "Well, I found myself down here shortly after."

No sooner had he ended his explanation than there was a commotion upstairs. Muffled shouts could be heard and I smiled knowing the police had found a very good reason to search this house. All thanks to my disappearance. Sometimes my plans worked. This one went flawlessly. Although I didn't imagine she'd be using cyanide to poison us. At least, that's what I assumed it was based on my symptoms and the taste. She's lucky she didn't kill anybody.

Never mind, she probably wouldn't have cared.

Swift footsteps filed down the stairs. "We found them," the voice bellowed before more footsteps followed. There were enough officers for every victim to have a buddy while the metal cutters got to work snapping the chain.

Apparently the lady would not divulge any information on the whereabouts of a key.

The young and weak were helped out of the basement. The last victim and myself walked out. When we got outside we all blinked trying to adjust to the brightness after being in the dark for so long. All of the hostages were checked out by medical personnel and then taken to the police station to be released into their family's care. All except for the crazy granny's husband.

He walked over to me and held out his hand, "Thanks, son, for saving us," he said with feeling. "I thought you were full of shit at first, but they really did come through in the end."

There was a clearing of a throat behind me and the old man's eyebrows rose in question before a lecherous grin sneaked its way onto his face, "I'll leave you to it." He turned and walked away.

I was spun roughly around to face a worried looking Ezriah. I opened my mouth to greet him and offer my thanks, maybe gloat a little because my plan worked so well but none of that actually came out of my mouth. Instead my lips were swiftly covered by Ezriah's warm ones and I was wrapped in a safe embrace. He pulled back, eyes dancing before he got serious on me.

"Don't ever do something so dangerous again," he said as cross as he could manage to sound. "I thought I might lose you." That was spoken with a tenderness I had no idea would ever be directed at me. Up until this time I thought he was just flirting badly with me. Now I realized it might be something more to him. And... for some reason, that didn't scare the crap out of me like it used to. I blame it on the cyanide. In a few days I'd be back to my regular self. Thoughts of a real relationship with tall, dark, and handsome forgotten. His lips descended on mine for round two

He pulled back after some time and I dimly realized if he never wanted me to do something like this again all he'd have to do was kiss me like that. I found myself incapable of thinking about anything other than those lips while he was doing that. My eyes must have said _kiss me again_ because he did.

We headed to my apartment. Ezriah was so relieved that I was safe that he forgot about the little talk about my visions. And I certainly didn't remind him about it. I settled for cuddling on the couch instead. Something that I normally didn't enjoy but felt immensely comforting right at the moment. Derp got in on the couch cuddle action too.

The next day I went to the police station to give my final statements about the incident.

I headed home, glad to be alone for a while and went upstairs to find Derp eating my shoe laces. He _does_ eat them.

I wrestled the laces from him and put some food in his dish. While he ate I patted him on the head. Another case solved, Derp. Onto the next. Hopefully it wouldn't deal with creepy old ladies.


	8. Case 24:  Drop 'em

I'm full of self doubts. It's been a long time. So long since Ezriah Taylor has been in my presence. The last time was Case 13. He practically declared his love for me, shoved his tongue down my throat and then disappeared off the face of the planet. I mean, if he's busy he could have at least found time to call. Or hell, text. _Anything._ But, I guess I could have done those things too. I got wrapped up in cases and slowly the thought of calling him, after so much time apart, began to feel like an awkward experience.

But, he sounded like he at least _liked_ me. Why was he so distant? Why was this all so confusing? And most of all, why the hell did I care? Why couldn't I get the feeling of those lips out of my mind or the way he held me close? It was as if all my fears evaporated and then in his absence reality curly came a'calling.

The worst thing was I was getting more random visions without touching people. And some of them weren't even about crimes. I was in a donut store getting a donut when my order was rudely interrupted by me having a vision that the girl in line behind me was going to order a pink frosted jelly filled donut with a lemonade to drink. Why was I being cursed by visions like this?

Besides that _wonderful_ development. The cases that I had after my kidnapping, _man_ napping, were droll. I'm not saying I want super exciting cases where lives were at risk or already lost but I seriously had a case where somebody called me upset because they had locked themselves in their car. _In_ their car. All they had to do was press their unlock button in their car to solve their problems but they just _had_ to call a detective for help.

I shouldn't complain. I still got paid. But really, _in their car._

I was intrigued by the case file I was currently reading. Moira had stopped by and was now sitting across from me impatiently as I read about the interesting case. Someone was apparently killing random people. When looking at the victims it was easy to recognize that they all lived in apartments.

And they all knew this individual.

There was no forced entry into their homes.

"They knew the killer," I told Moira.

"Vision?" She asked.

I shook my head.

"Then how do you know?"

"Common sense," I replied causing her to scowl at me. "There was no evidence of forced entry and they put up little fight before their death."

She nodded her head making note of my observations on her trusty tablet.

"Did you notice the pattern in the apartments the killer chose?" I asked with a little bit of excitement in my voice. It was always exciting when I found something like this.

"No?"

Here I said pulling up a map on google of the city. I quickly copied and pasted it into paint to make my life easier and began to mark apartment building addresses that have already been hit. He's been here, here, here and here which means next...."

"He'll go here," Moira and I pointed to the same spot and ,sure enough when we typed it into a search engine we found that there was an apartment building there.

"That's my building," Moira exclaimed in shock.

"Hey, Moira, how 'bout a sleepover," I suggested with a dopey grin.

* * *

Staying at Moira's was an interesting experience. She didn't live with anyone because, as she said she was, "married to her work," but her walls were very _thin_. I guess you don't become a police officer for the money. Honestly, I'm hoping nobody becomes _anything_ for the money. Do what you love and all that jazz.

I had been at Moira's for a couple of days with nothing happening. This wasn't unusual. The cases seemed to happen at random intervals, but I was getting impatient. Everyday when I went to feed Derp I could tell he was also impatient with the whole arrangement. We had set up extra security cameras in the hallway and diligently watched them for signs of suspicious activity. There hadn't been anything suspicious thus far. All we had were normal tenants, their friends and delivery people. People delivering large packages to doors or mail that required a signature, people delivering fast food or meal plans, you know, normal stuff. We also went around to people and urged them to report anything that seemed out of the ordinary.

I was watching the cameras all day and didn't see anything suspicious.

The next morning, there was a crime scene. Moira and I looked at the scene in horror. Holy shit, I missed it.

How could I mess up like this?

Somebody was dead because I clearly overlooked some important detail when looking through the case evidence. Mrs. Groober was dead.

How could I have missed it in the recordings?

Try as I might, I also couldn't make myself have a vision. I couldn't see anything from the victim's perspective or the killers. That was very strange for me.

I raked a hand over my face needing to think away from all of this. "Moira," I began hesitantly. She looked up at me from where she was examining the body. "I need some time to think."

Her lips pulled into a tight thin line. She knew I didn't do failure well. Like the good, understanding friend she was she just nodded her head and let me leave. Wonder how long she'd let me think before she decided I had enough solitary time to mope around my house.

* * *

I woke up with something sticky between my legs. Which caused me to remember last night around the blasted hangover I was sporting. It's been two days and I've barely been home choosing to instead sit at a bar and wallow my pity away with a bottle. I never came home without at least one bed partner. Last night it had been a girl named Maria. She approached me at the bar and was _very_ flirty. When I suggested we move things to a bedroom, because it's clear that's where we both wanted to go with that she hesitated.

I'll never forget the next words she said, nearly spat out my drink in shock, "I have a dick," she mumbled quietly.

Recovering quickly from the shock I said, "I have one too, is that going to be a problem?"

"The name's Dominick," I introduced myself officially.

"Maria," she smiled in relief and we left soon after. And, holy shit, did she know how to use what she was packing.

Grinning at the memory I hopped out of bed. I was a little sore and felt some of the stickiness from last night drip down my leg. Okay, first order of business: shower. Second order of business: bar.

Feeling like I needed to be punished I actually went to a BDSM club. This wasn't an unusual thing for me but I wasn't technically a part of the lifestyle. I was more a voyeur or a circler. Occasionally I dipped my feet in the water and then would stay away for awhile. Sometimes I thought my hesitance to join the lifestyle was because I hadn't found the right person yet. Other times I thought it was because I was scared shitless of losing control like some of the subs did. I couldn't even imagine going into a state like subspace. It scared me. Trust was something I didn't do easily and I had a good reason not to trust.

I caught the eye of a pretty dominatrix named Mistress Marina and her beautiful sub Martie. Seriously, what the hell is with all these mar names? No wonder I can never remember the names of the people I sleep with.

They led me to a private room after stating what they intended to do with me. Apparently they looked for a third a lot. And then it was just a matter of how much I was willing to give to them. That ended up being on my hands and knees facing the open door while I was getting paddled by Mistress Marina. All the while Martie was laying on the floor under me taking care of my proud erection. Any time he would feel me getting close he would back off. He knew how to keep me right along that edge perfectly. Marina, don't call me mistress you're not my sub, spoke in a tone that demanded to be obeyed, "Suck him," and I did.

I traveled home well into the early morning and immediately took a shower before crawling into bed. I felt a lot better emotionally now. That had been what I needed. But it also made me question a lot of my life choices too. You see, I kept imagining that I was being paddled by a certain ex-thief. I was so in trouble.

Bright and early the next morning Moira barged into my upstairs living area and threw the blankets off of me. "Get up," she ordered, not even blinking an eye at the fact that I was naked, "enough wallowing, time to catch a killer."

I fumbled out of bed and got dressed in a hurry.

Moira had set up the same kind of work studio inside some random person's apartment in the next building that should be targeted. I was impressed with the work she had accomplished. Where I floundered with failure she persevered. I definitely had something to learn from her.

We were both sitting in front of the screens watching the hallways. Moira looked at me, "I'm hungry, go buy Chinese food," she threw her credit card at me and I smiled grateful for the break. Sitting and staring at a screen for so long was exhausting. I took her order and went out in the hallway to saunter my way down the steps. I wasn't a fan of elevators. Too many people in too tight of a space had never gone well with me trying to supress my abilities.

While I was walking on the first floor towards the entrance I bumped shoulders with someone else in the hallway.

 _Knock, knock knock, "Special delivery. Mornin' Mrs. Foster, just you today?" A few minutes later..._ thud _. They'd drop so fast after the poison. I loved the sound of a body hitting the floor._

_Knock, knock knock, "Special delivery. Hello Harry, how's it hangin'? "_

_Knock, knock knock, "Special delivery, Shane, I'll set this in your kitchen, no point in handing it off. What'd you order, an elephant?"_

_Knock, knock knock, "Special delivery, Mrs. McNally, I'll just set it inside the door._

_Knock, knock knock, Special delivery. Mrs. Groober, I'll lift this into your house for you._

_Knock, knock knock,"Special delivery. Here's your package Mr. Jacobson." the man reached out and took the package from me. Probably ordered a blow up doll, the perv. I did everything I could to suppress a smile all too soon, I knew he'd drop dead. He was a dirty old man anyways, he outlived his time. He was done for, same as the others, all they had to do was touch my-_

I let out a sharp intake of breath. Quickly apologizing to the delivery man I darted to the front of the building. There I called Moira.

"There's a delivery man in the building right now, he's the killer," I said in a quiet rush.

Moira's excited voice was cut off by my next sentence, "He's headed towards Mr. Jacobson's apartment. Get there before him," I hung up and headed up to the sixth floor. I remembered this apartment in particular because we were told the resident wanted to be in an apartment with the number 69 in it. He insisted on it, even though he was an old man who had some trouble walking, so he was put in apartment 669.

I got close enough to the apartment door in time to see the delivery man knock on the door and for Miora to answer it, in full uniform with her gun drawn. She certainly was pulling out all of the punches.

The delivery man ran. She gave chase. When he got close to me he hit me on the shoulder again.

_How did they catch me, how did they catch me? I was so careful. I was so-_

I watched in real time as the delivery man fell down the flight of steps he was running down. He tripped and did a header into the wall. But that wasn't the thing that made his thoughts cut off so abruptly in my mind. You see, that happened when he was flailing to regain his balance and his ring finger brushed his cheek. More specifically the ring on his ring finger brushed his cheek.

Why did this matter?

That's how he was killing the people. His ring contained a fast acting poison. How did a delivery man come into possession of a fast acting poison? Don't know, don't care. He had it and made sure all of his victims had contact with it in some way.

"He-help me," he spoke to me weakly. This poison really did work fast, "I d-don't ha-ha-have an anti-anti-do-do-antidote."

I shrugged probably a bit cold of a reaction but I had just vividly seen him killing people from his point of view and he definitely had a sense of apathy when dealing with his victims. "I don't have it either."

Making a, "come over here," gesture with my arms, I waved Moira over. "He poisoned himself by accident," I stated and then quietly to Moira I added, "It's in the ring. I wouldn't approach him. He's weak and desperate, he could still kill you.""But then," she looked at the killer with a certain amount of sympathy, "he'll die."

"He's going to die either way."

About 30 minutes later a team arrived to get the body.

I gave my finishing statement and looked over at Moira who was doing the same thing. With a wave and a weary smile I left and headed home.

When I got to the front of my house I realized the lights were on upstairs. Great, Derp learned a new trick...were my initial thoughts from outside my home. Upon actually entering my upstairs I realized that there was a certain ex-thief sitting on my couch.

He got up from the couch and pulled me into a tight embrace, I could feel him relaxing as was I. No, I couldn't let him get off scot free after week's of non-communication. So, I slugged him across the face.

Satisfied, I walked around him and into my bedroom. Another case solved, I decided. The next one better be something stupid.


	9. Premature Ejaculation

I'm visiting a hospital to meet up with a Miss Revica Lopez. Her long term boyfriend who refuses to marry her was ejected from his car while trying to perform a car stunt for some kind of fancy car show. Her boyfriend Gordon Small was performing his stunt at the practice run through when his seat flew out of the vehicle too early sending him catapulting through the air.

This, in and of itself, wasn't much of a problem. He was supposed to be ejected from the vehicle just a few seconds later and then sail back down to earth gently with the aid of a parachute. But the parachute was stuck and wouldn't open which meant Gordon met the ground _hard._

She explained all of this to me with tears in her eyes. "There just had to be foul play. There's no way he would have messed up like that."

I could think of plenty of ways for the man to mess up like that. Plenty of ways in which stunt driving could go wrong. But I didn't say them. Gordon was a professional, after all. That implied that he knew what he was doing.

I needed to see this car before anything else happened. "Miss Lopez," I began.

"Call me Revica, please."

"Revica, would I be able to take a look at the car he was driving?"

* * *

I was in contact with his company and they said I could look at the car, no problem. I went to their agency and there was the car. The owner came over and shook my hand, "You're the guy that wanted to come and see Gordon's wreck, right," he spoke crassly. It was a little off putting.

"Yeah," I answered.

"Alls we did was pull it into the garage. Haven't touched it otherwise," the man led me to the car, "Do whatever you need to do."

He left me and went off to work on another car in the garage.

I looked at the car trying to figure out where to start. I could do simple things, but I certainly was no mechanic. Maybe it would be easier to start searching areas that I did know about.

I looked in the console first. There was a bunch of trash in it but otherwise nothing. I was surprised his stunt car even had some of this regular stuff. I heard in most cases the cars looked the same as regular cars but on the inside they were high tech and different. Gordon's car wasn't like that for some reason.

Next I looked in the glove box. There I found the usual papers. Owners manual, insurance papers, an envelope addressed to Revica.

I opened it.

Instead of reading the contents I was brought into Gordon's mind and thoughts as he wrote the letter.

_Trapped. There were people after me. I owed them money. Why did I take what they offered me? I knew it was a bad idea. Now there was no way out. I was too far down the rabbit hole. Worried for myself. Worried for Revica. Revica, she didn't deserve this. She didn't deserve a loser like me as her partner. Why did she stay with me? She said she loved me. Was her love that strong? It seemed like a chain tethering her to me. I was a piece of shit, barely made enough for us to live and still she stayed. She deserved better. That's what her family said, that's what her friends said. Hell, a random cashier in a grocery store had even said that to her. I was beginning to think the only way to set her free was to break the chains that held her fast. I needed to die. Nobody would miss me if I was gone. It would be a blessing for everyone and Revica... god she would hurt. Hurt for a long time, no doubt but she'd eventually find the love she deserved and she'd soar without me weighing her down. I knew what I had to do to make this right._

Wow... I hurried from the vehicle and made my way back to the hospital. I didn't bother to call Revica, I knew she'd be there.

Once there, I gave her the note. It hurt her to read it but I knew she would want to know.

If he woke up from his coma, which I'm hoping he would, things would be different between them, that I was sure of.

I headed home and greeted my cat at the door. Also waiting for me was Ezriah. He seemed to be visiting me more and more frequently. I wasn't sure how I felt about it, but I could at least admit that I did want him there. He hadn't done anything relationshippy with me since the day he kissed me and admitted his feelings. I don't know if I was disappointed by that or relieved. Either way, I could feel the relationship between us changing into something different too. Was it a good or bad change? I didn't know. It was just different.

I led the way over to my couch and Ezriah followed. There he held me for a little while. "Bad day?" he asked me in one of the gentlest tones I ever heard.

"It was an interesting day," was all I said. I didn't elaborate and he didn't pry. It was one of the things I was starting to really like about him.


	10. Case 30:  S&M (S'mores & More)

My arms were crossed over my chest as I pouted.

"You're seriously gonna pout right now," Moira asked, more than a bit incredulous at my behavior.

"You _know_ that I don't do routine police runs. Not anymore," I grumbled.

Moira had manhandled me out of my home at 9:00pm in order to head up to an all girls camp somewhere. Apparently a little girl had gone missing after they ate s'mores. The staff had followed their protocol of finding the girl and had no luck. They decided they better call in local police to come help before the girl could have gotten too far.

When the car stopped in the parking lot of the camp Moira got out in one graceful movement. I stayed petulantly in the passenger's seat.

"Get out," she hissed to me.

"No," I snapped back.

"You are acting like a child."

"So what?" What did I care if I was acting like a child? And I definitely didn't care what any of these people thought about me.

"They'll give us free s'mores when we're finished," Moira bribed.

I jumped out of the car ready to go with a bright smile on my face. I loved s'mores. Especially s'mores with super burnt marshmallows. The carbon added an awesome flavor.

We met with the camp director and the girl's counselors. We found out important things like her name, Bridget; her age, seven; and what she had been wearing last, pink kitty pajamas.

The camp director wanted to keep this whole thing low profile so she had asked Moira not to wear her uniform. I glanced over at my friend noticing for the first time that she was indeed not wearing her uniform. I really must have been pouting to not notice that earlier.

The counselors led the way up to their unit and took us in the direction of the campfire. All the rest of the girls were asleep and it was our goal to keep it that way. No way was I dealing with a bunch of hyperactive seven year olds.

Moira leaned close to me and said, "You check over there," she motioned to the latrine, "I'll check the unit house."

Why did I get stuck with the shithouse?

I grumpily made my way over to it kicking a small stone as I went. It actually didn't smell as much as I thought it would. The porta-potties we used at the all boy's camp I went to were much worse.

 _Those_ brought back bad memories.

Because I was such an _odd_ kid, I was constantly made fun of and picked on. My mom decided it'd be a great idea to send me to an all boys camp. She hoped I would make some friends that were "like me." Whatever that meant. Instead I was the target of constant bullying. One time I was going to the bathroom with my buddy (you always needed to have a buddy). They were these god awful porta-potties. My buddy stood outside and waited for me to do my business. Only while they were waiting they shoved a stick through the lock on the outside of the door. When I went to open the door it wouldn't budge. I was yelling for them to let me out and they wouldn't do it but I could hear them laughing. I knew my buddy was still out there. Apparently sometime along the line my buddy had gotten some friends. They came over and started acting like they were going to flip the porta-potty over. I still remember their chanting of "flip the fag," as they were making their attempts.

And that's why I didn't use porta-potties anymore.

While I was lost in thought I managed to also get slightly lost in the woods. I had walked right off of the trail by the bathroom and kept going. Looking around, I saw no discernible landmarks to get me back to the unit. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone to use my flashlight app. Probably should have done that ages ago. Up until this point I had been using the light cast from the full moon. It sure was bright. I had a shadow and everything.

I turned on my flashlight and did an about-face. I figured if I just turned around I would eventually make it back to the unit. In the far distance I could see Moira's flashlight over on the other side of the unit.

Deciding it was a good idea to watch where I stepped, didn't want to trip and fall, I looked at the ground as I made my way back to the unit.

That's when I saw it. Tiny and white is sat unassuming on the ground. I poked it. It was squishy. Upon picking it up I realized it was a ripped off piece of a marshmallow. Huh. How'd that get here?

Off to the left of it there was another. I went over to it. Further up ahead I could see another and another.

 _Oh_. This is like a breadcrumb trail. Setting the marshmallow back on the ground so I would know how to get back, I began to follow the trail. I must have walked for a good ten minutes before the trail stopped.

Where the trail stopped sat a little pink ball curled up at the base of a tree. "Bethany?" I questioned even though there was no way it could be anybody else.

She looked up at me. I could tell she'd been crying. "You found me," she seemed excited that she was found even as her lip quivered showing she was on the verge of crying again.

"My name's Dominick, how about I get us back to your unit," I leaned down to her lever as I talked and reached out a hand to help her stand.

She took it and nodded.

Once she was standing we decided the best thing to do was give Bethany a piggyback ride back to her unit. She was really excited about the piggyback ride and I was really excited that the way back would take half the time with only me walking. My legs were a _little_ longer than her legs.

I carefully followed her marshmallow trail and headed back to her unit. Bethany did a good job of talking my ear off on the journey. Apparently Bethany had gone to the bathroom and gotten turned about on her way back to the unit. By the time she realized she was lost she didn't see any hope of getting back. So she left a marshmallow trail. Which went well until she ran out of marshmallows. Why she was going to the bathroom without a buddy and with a bag of marshmallows is something we may never know.

When I got back to the unit house I set Bethany down and was greeted by excited whispers and big smiles from her counselors.

We said our goodbyes and got back in Moira's car to head home.

I was hyper and energetic after being the one to find Bethany and Moira was pouting. "I wanted to be the one to find her," she whined.

"The important thing is that she was found," I said sagely.

"You're only saying that because you found her," Moira muttered.

"Hey!" I exclaimed suddenly. "We didn't get our s'mores."

We both sulked the rest of the way home.


	11. Case 38:  Difference Between Molestation and Camping Part 1

Come on, pick up, pick up, pick up," I chanted over and over again as Ezriah continued to no answer his phone. "Answer the fuc-

"Hello," Ezriah answered.

"K-oh, Ezriah!" I greeted him sweetly, surprised that he actually answered. "Hey, I have a favor to ask you. Could you come over to my house?"

"Is that your favor?" He asked not even bothering to hide his amusement.

"Why don't you come over and find out?" I was so gonna regret my decision to provoke later.

His voice was husky, "I'll be over in an hour."

When Ezriah arrived we made our way into the living room. I sat in my chair and he sat on my couch. "Like I said earlier, I have a favor to ask you," I began.

"Before you ask it, we need to have a little talk," Ezriah said easily.

Did he just, "we need to talk," me?

"Are you breaking up with me?" I whined trying my best to make it extra cringey.

Yes! I saw Ezriah's eye twitch. I consider that a win. He spoke calmly and with a poise I had never possessed in my whole entire life. "In order for me to break up with you, you'd have to admit that we are in fact _in_ a relationship."

I sucked in an alarmed breath. Could I admit that? I thought about it and opened my mouth intent on saying four words: we're in a relationship. Four little words and they wouldn't come out.

He sighed looking a little disappointed. "I thought so."

"Why is it so hard for you to be in a relationship? Is it me?" He asked voice hitching on the last question.

"God no, it's not you," I rushed to assure him. I definitely wasn't him.

"Then what?" He pressed.

I closed my eyes and breathed deeply trying to find the strength to tell him the reason. But, I couldn't find it.

"I'm... not ready to tell you that quite yet," I hesitantly admitted to him, looking away ashamed that I couldn't even give him that much.

"Okay," he said easily, too easily. I looked up to see him smirking, "Then will you tell me about your visions instead?"

My mouth opened and I probably looked like a codfish as I sat there gaping at him. I had assumed he had forgotten all about that. Here, it appeared he'd been biding his time. Waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Had he been playing me with the earlier conversation?

"I really would like to know about why you can't admit that we're something when you're ready to share," he assures the very semblance of sincerity. "For now though, let's talk about something you're ready to talk about."

Why was he such a nice guy? I felt my insides go all fuzzy.

I leaned forward in my chair and flashed him what I hoped was a charming smile. "So... visions?"

"Visions," he agreed.

"For me it really was a puberty thing," I got a crack out of the way Ezriah seemed to choke on air as I began my little tale.

_I guess it was a day like any other. I was an exceptionally late bloomer. I was still shorter than a majority of my classmates in eleventh grade. Experienced no growth spurts at all. I was rocking 4'10" for a really, really long time. My classmates all got taller, but I stayed the same. It was frustrating to hear my parents' timeless mantra of, "don't worry you'll grow," or from my mother, "you're father was a late bloomer and look at him now." My dad is 6'1". Apparently he kept growing well into his twenties._

_So when I got to 11th grade I shot up a foot._

_I went from 4'10" to 5'10" in seemingly the blink of an eye. Okay, it really happened over the summer which was a shocker for my teachers when I came back for twelfth grade. But when I hit my lovely growth spurt something else grew too. No, not that, you pervert, although..._

_Anyway, I started getting frequent headaches. When I would bump someone at school I would get a painful headache and sometimes pass out. My parents took me to doctors about this and nobody could find anything wrong with me. Every test came back completely normal. But still I would get the headaches and pass out when I touched people._

_I began avoiding being close to people in the hallway. Would you want to touch anyone if all you felt was pain? Didn't think so._

_There was only so much avoidance I could do at a high school so there were still occurrences._

_It was during one of these occurrences that I had my first actual vision._

_One of my sporadic tormentors decided it would be a good day to mess with me. He pinned me against a wall in a hallway hardly anyone frequented, which is also why I happened to be hanging there during my lunch break. Anyway, I'm pinned to a wall and his wrist brushed against my neck. I immediately saw a scene play out in front of me that I will never forget. I wish that I could bleach my mind and get it out of there but it's burned into my memory forever._

_There, sitting in the boy's bathroom at one of the stalls was my bully wanking. And worse, he said my name right before he shot into his other hand while moaning my name. He then proceeded to lick his spoils off of his hand, zip up, and leave the bathroom without washing his hands. Immediately he found me and pushed me against the wall._

_I was so shocked by what I just saw that I somehow yanked myself out of the vision and yelled, "Oh my god, you didn't wash your hands!"_

_The bully was so confused and then embarrassed when he realized I somehow knew what he did that he left me alone that day and for the rest of senior year. It was glorious._

_The thing that wasn't so glorious is that having that first vision seemed to open up the floodgates for more to happen. They would happen randomly and sometimes I couldn't even tell that I was in one. Which made for some interesting situations. Oftentimes after I came out of them I would be weak or even pass out. It wreaked havoc on my life so much that I eventually decided about halfway through senior year that I wanted to do online schooling instead. It was blissful._

_After high school I spent some time learning to control my powers before enrolling in college and putting my newfound control to the test._

"So, yeah, I have visions," I concluded lamely.

Ezriah was staring at me in disbelief.

"So, could you do me," he asked.

"Oh, I'd gladly do you," I answered suggestively.

I didn't tell him that it worked better for people that had just done something dubious. Like a crime. Or worked better on dead people. That's something I didn't figure out until I began working as a police officer. As of recently though, it _has_ been happening more often. Maybe I _should_ do Ezriah and see what happened.

I got off of my chair and made my way over to the couch. Sitting down beside Ezriah I said, "Give me your hand."

He held his hand out for me to take and I gingerly grasped it. I closed my eyes in some half-assed attempt at concentrating when all I really wanted to focus on was the feeling of safety I got from his large warm hand in mine. I slipped into the vision with the feeling of being _safe_ which was something new for me. Usually I felt minutely like I was intruding.

I guess the difference was Ezriah Taylor was letting me see this. He wanted me to see inside of him.

What I saw made me blush. My throat was instantly dry even while I felt like I might be drooling and I felt a distinct tingling in my nether region.

 _There I was kneeling on the floor in Ezriah's apartment. There was a beautiful collar around my neck and I appeared to be waiting for someone. There was a beautiful collar on me and absolutely nothing else. I could see the collar clearly in the full length mirror that hung on his front door. Had that been there the last time I was at his apartment? I decided, no, it hadn't. I would have noticed it. But still I remembered doing things that involved that mirror. Like having sex against it while Master told me to look at myself in the mirror._ Master, what the fuck? Who was Master? I had a feeling I knew. It'd be stupid of me not to guess but... was this really something that would happen? _There was also something in my ass. I wondered how long it would be in there before my master deemed it necessary to take it out. Or let me have some release. Right now I'd take either. Or both. That toy had been up there since my master headed to the office to do some work. He told me he wouldn't be gone long and to be kneeling at the usual spot waiting for him when he got home at 4:00pm. He said I'd know when he'd be close. How I'd know he didn't say, but at this point in our relationship I trusted that I would somehow figure out that he was almost here. There was a vibration in my ass and I gave a strangled cry before composing myself. Just in the nick of time too because the door to the apartment opened a few moments later._

Guess that's how I'll know he's almost home, _I thought drolly. Aloud I spoke demurely from where I was kneeling, eye fixed on the ground no visible signs of discomfort from the vibrations happening. "Welcome home, master."_

Holy fuck. What was this? This could be something that would happen. Or was it some fantasy that Ezi wished would happen? This must be something that Ezi wished would happen and I was somehow seeing it. That's it, it had to be. No way was I kneeling on the ground like some demure little kitten waiting for my _master_ to come home. I thought I saw things that would definitely happen. But I guess then Mr. Jacobson would have died a few cases ago. I don't know how these visions work. This just couldn't be the _definite_ future.

_My master took off his coat and made his way over to me. "Hello pet," he purred, sending shivers through me, "did you miss me?"_

_"Yes, master, I missed you very much," I spoke. I swear to god I practically whimpered._

_I heard the unzipping of pants. "Care to show me how much you missed me?"_

"Whoa!" I yelled jerking myself out of that vision before it got any hotter.

"What'd you see?" Ezriah asked me, sounding genuinely curious.

"You're a dom? I questioned back instead of answering his question.

Or, maybe that did answer his question. Judging by the way his lips pulled up into what I like to think of as his signature smirk, I'm guessing he had an idea of what I'd just seen.

He sighed wistfully, "What I wouldn't give to see what you just experienced. I hope it's something that will happen between us in the future."

I blushed, "Well it certainly hasn't happened between us yet."

"Would you like it to happen?"

My blush grew thermonuclear, "That's beside the point. I feel like we should have sex first before we..."

I trailed off. It sounded suspiciously like I was suggesting that we have sexy time stuff happening between us more than once. Hell, it looked like we were going to have sexy time between us more than once if my vision was to be believed.

I could feel the clear sexual tension between us turning awkward with my little trail off. _He_ knew what I was going to say but all he did was clear his throat and look away. Great, now I feel like shit again.

At that moment Derp decided to make his presence known by jumping up onto the back of my couch. He waltzed his way over to Ezriah, who turned to look at him. Big mistake. Derp had a mini staring contest with Ezriah before he decided to sneeze right onto Ezriah's face.

Ezi jerked back in shock and wiped off his face which scared Derp so bad he fell backwards off of the couch and zipped from the room. Probably went to hide in my closet. It was his comfort zone.

"That cat is _so_ strange," Ezriah commented, still wiping the cat spit off of his face.

When he felt satisfied that he was no longer living with a fine mist of cat on his face Ezriah turned back to me all awkwardness gone. Derp to the rescue! "What was that favor you wanted?"

"Oh!" I had completely forgotten that I still needed to ask him. "Will you feed Derp for me until further notice?" the look of complete horror on Ezriah's face at the notion of feeding Derp was awesome. "I'm going undercover."


	12. Case 38:  Difference Between Molsetation and Camping Part 2

I feel like someone has it out against me. I've been at an all boys camp for a week now hanging out with a troop. I was called in on the down low by a concerned parent. The parent heard their son talking about one of their troop leaders molesting them but the parent didn't know in what context the comment was made in and didn't want to blow something out of proportion that was a simple overhearing of a conversation at the wrong time.

And for some reason, even with all of my past experiences with all boys camps, I decided to take this case. Why did I hate myself so much?

This time was a little different than last time. Obviously, I'm much older and more sure of myself. I was acting the part of a new troop member who moved recently to the district. Because they didn't want to deprive a new kid of any opportunities, the adults decided that I could join in on the camping activities.

For now my name is Ethan Miller. I'm a high schooler (just thinking those words had a shudder of revulsion coursing through me. I don't want to go back to high school. What an awkward time.) twelfth grade. I probably look a little old for twelfth grade but it's amazing what people will believe with a big dumb smile and copious amounts of boyish charm. It was my goal to make some friends on this camping trip so I wouldn't be starting senior year without knowing anyone.

The first week here, I really learned the ropes. Set down groundwork to get the other boys to trust me.

As I laid on my lumpy, squeaky cot, I wondered if this whole thing was worth it. I guess so, if there really is a chance of one of the leaders molesting kids. That needs to not happen. But the thing is, I've not seen or heard anything that comes across in that way at all. The leaders all seem super professional. Like they have the best intentions of the kids at the forefront of their minds always.

I heard a rustling outside my tent and murmurs which I chose to ignore.

Next I knew, I was being dragged out of my tent by my foot. "What the-" Is all I managed to get out before a hand was tightly clamped over my mouth.

I was roughly manhandled to a tent.

"Hey, Ethan, right?" an older kid greeted me acting like he didn't have a clue who I was. He knew. We played so many name games. He was just being an ass.

"Yeah," I answered disinterested, "and you're... Jace?" His name was't Jace. I just wanted to dish some of his attitude back at him. Let him know he didn't intimidate me in the slightest.

"Jason," he answered moodily. Seems I hit a nerve.

"You're new here, right?" a younger boy asked. He looked like an excited puppy one step away from having an unfortunate accident.

"Yeah," I answered again wondering if this conversation had a point.

Still another kid looked to Jason and said, "Are you gonna let him in on the plan?"

Of course, I became immediately intrigued by this but to my chagrin Jason said, "Not here. We'll need to do it somewhere less... open. Wouldn't want one of them to overhear," he said quietly motioning to the leader's tent with his hand.

"Then why the hell am I here," I grumbled cross at being dragged out of my tent in the middle of the night.

"Just wanted to say a friendly welcome," Jason said with a tight grimace of a smile on his face. I think he was trying to gauge what kind of person I was.

I just continued to stare at him blankly for a few minutes, raising my right eyebrow in question when nothing happened for a substantial amount of time. Apparently my indifference impressed Jason who gave a slight nod before letting me get back to my tent.

Whatever. Guess I'd find out what they all really wanted later.

* * *

Leader Basta had really taken a shine to me. He was bright eyed and had a very boy next door look to him. Standing slightly shorter than my height, his stature didn't detract from how much space his lively presence took up. He was also clearly gay.

He was showing me how to properly tie up tent flaps when I tripped off of the tent platform and fell into him grabbing for anything to keep me from falling. The platform was only about six inches off of the ground so It wasn't too big of a deal but I still disliked the thought of falling onto the rocky ground. Anyway, as I was flailing, I grabbed Basta around the leg and we both ended up falling to the ground with me on top of him. More specifically my head happened to be nestled right in his crotch.

My face flamed nuclear and I jumped away from him. His face was also red. "Well, um," yeah, I didn't really know what to say to him. "Sorry?"

I couldn't look him in the eye. He couldn't look me in the eye either so it all worked out. "Just forget about it," he said and I decided a better idea had never been spoken.

We finished up our tent flap lesson a little more carefully than it began and all went back to normal.

Later on that day as the group was collecting firewood I was approached by Jason. We were off from the rest of the group and quite far out from our campsite making this the perfect time for him to tell me his secrets from the night before.

"Saw you earlier with Basta," he greeted with a sneer.

"You did?" I asked trying to play it cool. He didn't say what he'd seen after all.

"Yeah," he barked, "Can I give you some advice that all of us have learned?"

"Sure," I shrugged.

"You wanna stay away from that one," Jason advised.

"Why?"

"He's a faggot," Jason stated simply.

Yeah, so am I... "How do you know that," I asked. Maybe Basta had done something and that's why Jason thought he was gay.

"I mean, just look at him," Jason said in answer.

To be fair, I immediately pegged Basta as gay. But the way Jason phrased it made it seem like a bad thing whereas mine was more of an observation like a passing comment one might make about the weather. No malice in my heart. Unlike Jason.

"Okay?"

"He's never done anything to us... but the way he looks at Leader Anthony..." Jason trailed off. "He's gonna make him gay."

Oh, Jason... Anthony and Basta were both definitely already gay. I'm sure the two were in a committed relationship. For a while judging on how they interacted with one another. They did a really good job hiding it and keeping everything appropriate in front of the kids. I just had been observing the leaders in particular and saw the way their gazes lingered a little too long on each other or how occasionally Anthony would grasp Basta's hand and squeeze it when he thought no one was looking. Little things that were innocent gestures of how much they cared for one another.

"Okay?" I said again. I mean, what did you say to a declaration like that?

"So... we came up with a plan," Jason admitted excitedly.

Ooh, the plan from last night. I get to hear it!

He gauged my interest and began spilling the details when he decided he could trust me. I wouldn't trust me so soon but this was definitely working in my favor.

He told me about how him and a few other boys had decided that they needed to save Leader Anthony from Leader Basta. So one of them was gonna claim that Basta had done something to them. Like, I believe the exact phrase was, "Basta touched my pee-pee." obviously uttered by a younger kid who didn't know any better. This would be followed by more kids saying they were too afraid to come forward but Basta had touched them too.

I was slightly horrified and amazed by the lengths Jason would go to in order to get Basta away from him. I also knew that it was something that I wouldn't let happen. But no matter what, there were going to be some lives ruined from what I had just heard.

We walked back to the campsite and both put our gathered sticks down near the fireplace. We had a rest hour and then it was time for swimming.

I decided that swimming was the perfect time to get to talk to the camp director. Obviously he knew that I was undercover and it was time to let him know what had been found out. Pretending that I had to go to the bathroom, I left swimming and headed straight for the camp director's cabin. When he saw that it was me he ushered me inside.

We conference called the parents who hired me and spent some time talking about the whole would-be ordeal. They were all horrified that Jason would go to such lengths because Basta was gay. Apparently him and Anthony had been married five years now and were upstanding members of the community. The parents admittedly did not want their son to be around Jason, worried that their young kid, whom they thought was questioning his sexuality, would think that being himself was bad if he got wind of what Jason was saying about Basta.

After the phone call the camp director decided the best course of action would be for him to go watch the group of boys and for me to talk to Basta and Anthony about the whole thing.

They both looked mildly concerned when walking through the front door of the camo director's cabin. Upon seeing me there, one of their campers, their confusion doubled.

"Ethan?" Basta questioned. "Why are you here?"

Instead of answering I stuck out my hand for a lovely handshake greeting. Perplexed, Anthony shook my hand. I had a large grin on my face as I said, "Hi, my name's Dominick Kinsey and-"

"Holy fuck!" Basta exclaimed, jumping up and down. He hit Anthony excitedly in the shoulder, "I told you he looked familiar."

"You know me, I take it," I said dolefully. Must have been one of the people I fucked somewhere along the line.

"Well, we don't so much know you as our daughter does," Anthony admitted.

At my look of confusion Basta added, "You found her kitty."

"Holy fuck," I agreed. Small world.

Wait, why did they know what I looked like then? Apparently hearing my unanswered question Basta explained, "She has a picture of Derp and you in her phone."

I gave a nervous chuckle. Susie's parents... who'd have thunk it?

"Nice to officially meet you," I smiled, laying on the charm. "What I'm about to say isn't so great, unfortunately," I warned them before going into my explanation.

By the end Anthony had his arms wrapped around Basta in a comforting embrace as the man cried. Basta just couldn't believe that Jason would do something like that. He was determined to still be a leader and be there for the kids but it was decided that Jason shouldn't be allowed anywhere near Basta for the rest of their time at the camp.

The camp director came back to his cabin after I had wrapped up with Basta and Anthony. "Well, since you've gotten your answers, I'm guessing you're leaving?"

"Yup," I gave him a friendly smile. I had spent enough time reliving the worst parts of my childhood.

"Any chance I could convince you to stay as a leader?"

"Hell no," I answered swiftly softening my harsh rebuttal with an apologetic smile.

* * *

Ezriah opened the door in greeting and I fell into his arms exhausted.

"That good, eh?" he greeted me with a friendly hug.

"Why are children so awful sometimes?"

"Because their brains are not fully developed yet," Ezriah stated like that explained everything.

I chuckled, maybe it did.


	13. Case 45:  Bloody Wings and Strings

It was morning and Ezriah was in my bed leaning over me. We had been eating breakfast but then I got carried away with the touchy feely stuff and it somehow escalated and moved into the bedroom. I welcomed it. Maybe I would finally get this infatuation of mine out of my system and be able to move on from Ezriah Taylor. After all, I never slept with the same person twice. So... this would be our one time. Then I would quit Ezriah and move on to the next one night stand.

Sounded simple enough thinking it but somehow I doubted it would be that simple. My heart was already beating erratically and all he did was caress up my right side with the fingers of his left hand. The touch was so gentle and left a burning sensation of need that traveled from the phantom touches he had left lingering on my flesh right to my dick.

At seeing my very physical and obvious reaction to his gentle teasing Ezriah smirked. "Still going to pretend you don't want this?" he asked cockily.

I returned his question with what I hoped was a matching mischievous grin, "Oh no, I totally want that. In me. ASAP," _but will I continue to want it afterwards?_ I added in my head. I sincerely hoped I didn't. There was a really good reason I didn't do relationships and I wanted to stick to my rules. But right now more than anything, I wanted Ezriah to stick that monster of a dick inside of me.

He wasted no time in granting my wish prepping me quickly and not nearly enough with his hands and a copious amount of lube, courtesy of my end table. He quickly slid a condom on (also courtesy of my end table) and lined himself up with my entrance and thrust into me rather quickly. I hissed from pain and pleasure. It hurt in the best way. My toes curled and I called out when he hit that special place inside of me. And once he hit it, man, he didn't stop. It was an assault to my prostate until I released with a breathy scream. He finished quickly after that and gingerly pulled out. Carefully he took the condom off and threw it in the trash before leaving the room. Whatever, I tried to shake off how I felt abandoned by the guy I was trying to work out of my system. I mean, plenty of people didn't cuddle after sex. I just happened to be one of those people who always liked to bask in the afterglow even though I never had any intentions of seeing my partners again.

I was more than a little surprised when Ezriah came in with a damp washcloth. He wiped the drying results of my passion off of my stomach and threw the washcloth on the floor. "I'll pick it up later," he assured me upon seeing the glare I shot at him for just throwing it on the floor.

Satisfied with his answer, I nodded before snuggling into bed. He clamoured into bed behind me and I let out a contented sigh as his arms were wrapped around me. I know I've said this before but never had I felt so _safe_. Could I really give up this feeling?

No... I had to give it up. This wouldn't last. It'd change like last time and... and I'd be hurt again. I think it would be even worse if it was Ezriah who changed. But I don't want to admit why it would hurt so much more if it were him. That would prove he's special. And he really wasn't. Just a one time hook-up like the rest of them. Or at least that's what I would keep telling myself. Telling myself until it became my truth. I bit my lip. I felt safe in his embrace, but I couldn't fall asleep again as easily as he did.

In the end I didn't fall back asleep but laid there in that embrace while he slept. He woke up mid afternoon when we heard a bell go off from downstairs. Apparently someone came to my office and wasn't taking "closed" for an answer.

Grumbling about my responsibilities I rolled out of bed and quickly pulled on a pair of pants and a shirt. Ezriah woke while I was getting dressed. I gave him a quick peck on the forehead and immediately berated myself for showing that lovey-dovey gesture. "Someone persistent is downstairs," I explained but it came off as more of a whine.

He fixed a smoldering gaze upon me, "Well, hurry up and scare them off. Then get back up here."

"Yes sir," I mock saluted him.

Ezriah's eyes grew brighter in intensity, "Don't start something you're not prepared to finish, boy," he spoke huskily eyeing me up and down.

Boy? Ohh, I forgot, he's a dom. If that vision was anything to go by. That vision I had was definitely _wrong_ because Ezriah and I had already had our once in a lifetime sexual encounter.

After I looked minutely presentable I trudged down the stairs to my office and opened the door with a welcoming glare on my face. I wasn't paid to look happy to see people. I was just paid to solve cases. Happy detective was a bonus.

"I need help," a middle aged woman barged her way into my office area and flopped herself down into my client chair with a dramatic flourish.

"I not certified for that," I replied on instinct before mentally smacking myself upside the head. "I mean, what's the problem."

"Somebody killed them," she wailed.

"Somebody killed who?" Man was she hard to understand through the sobbing.

" _Them._ " she emphasized telling me nothing. "Somebody killed them all," her blubbering was annoying but I was trying this new thing where I actually tried to be a little understanding.

"How can I help you?" I asked for lack of anything better to ask.

Here she dried her eyes and tried her best not to sob as she talked, "Well, I left them exactly like I found them and didn't call anyone."

"You left a crime scene?" I asked, sounding shocked. That's probably not the smartest thing she could have done.

"I was too distraught," she said gravely, "I _had_ to get away."

Derp chose this moment to jump up on my desk. He meowed and hugged the lady in the face. She didn't appreciate the loving gesture and nearly fell to the floor in fear. Apparently she had a severe phobia of cats.

We decided that the best course of action was for me to see the crime scene firsthand. I led Derp back upstairs and walked into my bedroom where Ezriah was splayed out like a feast waiting for me to lick him from head to toe. Damn. Why did I agree to go with this lady again...

"I'm going to look at a crime scene, apparently," I explained to him while not taking my eyes off a certain piece of his anatomy that was just screaming for attention.

"So... none of this?" He asked gesturing at all of himself.

I scoffed, "Like there was gonna be some of that anyway."

He rolled out of bed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know what it means," I said lowly as I prepared to leave.

Ezriah was following me and stopped short when I said that. "So what? You thought that was your once and done?" He was of course talking about my ability to fuck and run. Whir, stir, thank you sir, all the way for me. My reputation really precedes me but for all the wrong reasons.

I didn't answer his question. My silence said enough.

"Whatever, let's just go to the scene."

"You're coming along?" I asked him in shock.

He gave me a tight lipped smile in answer before leading the way down the steps.

* * *

Complete horror is the phrase I would use to describe the scene that the lady had brought us to. Whoever did this was sick. _So_ sick.

The lady had brought me to the rooftop of her apartment building. Apparently she owned the building so she got the space on the roof to do whatever she wanted with, perks of being the owner. She had a beautiful sitting area to one side of the roof and on the other was a large encaged area that housed a bunch of exotic pigeon breeds. Her pets. She had names for them all and everything.

Well, it _had_ housed a bunch of pigeons.

Somebody had mutilated the birds. They killed them all by cutting off their wings and tying them to the ceiling of the cave by bits of string. Looked like a real horror house. The lady was inconsolable over the death of her birds and started weeping again at the sight of the slaughter.

Who would do something like this?

I guess that's what I was supposed to be figuring out...

The lady left us to look around the area, claiming that she just can't deal with the emotional distress of seeing her beloved birds like that. Valid point. That left Ezriah and me alone on the roof.

I looked around the scene for a while trying to see if anything in particular would stick out from careful observation or if I would have a vision. I figured the crime was committed by someone in this building but even _that_ was all just speculation. Nothing was sticking out to me.

"I think we should question the residence," I decided.

Ezriah fixed me with a flat look and nodded. Well, _somebody_ was clearly in a mood.

There were three floors on the building and only three residences on each floor. This meant that we had to question eight people, since one of the rooms had been the owner. I was hoping this would be an easy cut and dry case and it would be wrapped up before the end of the day.

Turns out it wasn't that easy. I wasn't getting any innate feelings from any of the tenants and all of them claimed to have alibis, which of course they told me. To top it all off, none of them caused me to have any visions.

We went back up to the roof and I looked around the scene some more. There had to be something here that I was missing.

"Why are we up here again?" Ezriah asked. I noticed the attitude leaking through into his tone.

"Why wouldn't we be up here again?" I answered his question with a question, something I hated when people did. "I haven't figured it out yet," I admitted after he fixed me with an angry glare. I'd never seen that look directed at me from him. He could look scary.

Ezriah let out a huff of annoyance and crossed his hands over his chest, "Well, it's pretty obvious who did it." His higher than thou tone was really starting to piss me off.

Trying to stay calm I replied, "Oh really, enlighten me.""The guy in 3A did it," he stated simply like it was an irrefutable fact.

I was more skeptical and wary. "How do you _know for_ certain? I didn't catch anything weird that he'd said or done when we questioned him and I didn't have any visions-"

"Do you always go solely on your visions?" he snapped back so fast I received mental whiplash. His words were like a slap in the face.

I didn't have an answer to that. That wasn't a fair question. My face heated up in anger and I turned away from Ezriah not wanting to face him or the questions he was asking.

While I was turned away Ezriah muttered a disappointed, "That's what I thought."

I turned around to see him leaving the rooftop. I was too stunned by his actions to even say anything and he didn't look back.

Feeling oddly betrayed I continued to look at the crime scene.

* * *

Later that night, frustrated from not having solved the case yet I decided to head to the bar. It was my sole intention to get some random person to fuck. Fuck my frustration from the case and my anger at Ezriah right out of me.

I was sitting at the bar drinking when and I was approached by a very good looking guy. He wasn't as large as Ezi or as good looking, in my opinion but he'd do nicely for a return to action. A revitalization of my former self.

Anyway, the guy came up to me with a cocky swagger, "Name's Marek," he greeted, "Wanna go?"

Alright, abrupt and no finesse involved.

I guess random hookups weren't necessarily about finesse. Or about a deeper connection. Or feelings. Well, feelings besides lust. Which is exactly why I... liked them. Right?

Marek and I made our way to a cheap hotel room. I couldn't bring myself to take him back to my home. Not after this morning.

We got on the bed and stripped, throwing the clothing haphazardly onto the hotel floor. He kissed me, a sloppy thing that fell way short of being hot and immediately reached his hand down to fondle my balls. Instead of feeling pleasure, I was uncomfortable.

Why couldn't I enjoy this?

What was so different now that in my past hookups?

I thought long and hard as Marek continued to try to get me aroused. Key word: try.

Ezriah's arrogant smirk crossed through my mind. His gentle touch.

I pushed Marek away.

"Oh my God," I realized, stunned, "I'm in a _relationship_."

Needless to say, that put a stop to the disappointment that was my attempt at sex with Marek. It also sent me into a sea of questions.

I've been in a relationship with Ezriah for a while. We hadn't called it anything like that but it was painfully obvious now that I wasn't being an oblivious idiot.

It was 1:00am by the time I got to my house. I didn't care what time it was, I pulled out my phone and called Ezriah.

I heard him pick up but he remained silent. The swell of emotion inside of me was almost unbearable. I felt like scum for almost having sex with someone else and I felt like scum for not admitting that I had real feelings for Ezriah earlier. "Ezi?" I whimpered. If I were in a better emotional state I would have berated myself for sounding so wimpy but I was too far gone with self loathing to care overly much at that point.

"So," he began softly, "you finally came to your senses." I could hear the grin in his voice as he finished that sentence.

I nodded, like he could see that, "But... I did something horrible," I all but whispered.

"Let me guess," he drawled, "you almost slept with someone else before you realized that we've actually been in an undefined relationship for months?"

His accuracy shocked me to the core. "The fuck?"

"Let's just say, I know you," he said with that damn smirk still present.

I rolled my eyes.

"We'll talk about that eye roll later," he promised.

Wow, he really did know me.

"Whatever," I played off his statement like it didn't cause my heart to skip a beat in anticipation.

"Since it's well past 1:00 in the morning, how about you go to bed and we can talk more after you've wrapped up that case?" Ezriah suggested with a yawn.

We said our goodbyes and hung up. I snuggled into my covers feeling a heck of a lot better about life but also still worried about being in a relationship. Maybe I could hope that this time would be different.

* * *

The next day, bright and early, saw me over at the wings apartment of horror again. I decided I needed to question the tenants once more. I had to have missed something obvious.

When I got to 3A I knocked on the door and he yelled for me to come in. I grabbed the door handle to let myself into his apartment.

_This would show her, I thought angrily._

_Always paying attention to those blasted birds and nobody else. Didn't even realize how I felt. And, to top it all off those damn birds were so. fucking. noisy. They kept me up all afternoon while I was trying to sleep for my third shift job._

_Well, I'd had enough._

_I walked into the birdcage. The birds were used to people coming in and playing with them so they hardly batted an eye at my presence. I pulled the meat shears out of my back pocket pocket and got to work with my little arts and crafts project. When I was finished I felt a little proud of myself. I had cut every single bird's wings off at the joint and painstakingly tied each to a piece of string a little over a foot in length. From there, I tied the string to the ceiling of the cage. It was definitely a masterpiece. A sight to behold. I knew she'd remember this for the rest of her life._

_With a small chuckle I left the scene of the crime. I threw my shirt away and put my scissors in the sink to wash later._

Now I felt even more like shit. I owed Ezi an apology. He was right.

I decided to call Moira and let her deal with the rest of this case. I told her she'd find the meat shears used to mutilate the birds in the sink. This guy really let his dishes stack up.

I needed to go to Ezriah Taylor's place and talk about this relationship we were in.


	14. Case 52:  Dicking Around Part 1

I could hear Ezi reacting loudly to something that was being reported on the news. It was bright and early and for some reason I was up already. I call that reason Ezriah Taylor. He insisted on staying over last night just so he could sleep next to me and he had to work early this morning. Which meant he needed to wake me up too, obviously.

I finished getting dressed and walked into my living room to see Ezriah sitting on my couch eating a bowl of cereal. Since when did I have cereal? I never even saw breakfast. He must have sneaked some food in here when I wasn't paying attention. Shooting him a glare I made my way over to the couch.

"The person in this story kind of looks like you," Ezriah offhandedly commented as he watched the story unfold.

Apparently there was a big problem happening to guys. And like Ezriah said, these guys all had a striking resemblance to me, for some reason. Anyway, these guys were victims of a suspected hate crime against gays. They were abducted, tied to a chair and tortured cruelly. The last thing that happened to all of them was getting their dick cut off. They were then dropped at a hospital with a cooler containing their dick and were able to have it reattached.

"That's fucked up," I commented, clearly stating the obvious. I mean, what kind of lunatic did that to _anyone_.

"Isn't it?" Ezriah agreed. "Don't you want to figure out who's behind this?"

Nope. "I haven't had anyone come to me about this case," I skirted around actually answering his question. Why would I want to find the person who was cutting dicks off of gay guys that looked like _me_? That was just asking for the same thing to happen to me.

"So... if someone came to you about the case you'd help?"

Fat chance of that happening. "Yeah, I guess," I answered.

Ezi finished his cereal and threw his bowl in the sink. "Well," he bent down and kissed me, "I have to go. See you later."

As soon as he shut the door I stuck my tongue out at him. I had a feeling he was going to make my life difficult.

Derp rubbed my legs and licked my pants because he's a weirdo. He followed me down into my office and took his place on my desk while I went to flip the sign from closed to open. Might as well start this day early.

After hours of sitting with absolutely no one, Moira walked into my office. Before she could even open her mouth to speak I greeted her, "Get out."

She advanced towards my desk and plopped herself down in one of the visitor chairs. "I heard you're willing to help with this dicky situation."

I chuckled at her play of words before I realized what she said. "Damn you, Ezi," I muttered under my breath.

"That's what I thought," Moira crossed her arms triumphantly. "There's no _way_ you would have agreed to do this case."

"So that's it?" I asked hopefully, "I'm not helping then?"

Moira plastered an evil smirk onto her countenance and I knew before she spoke that I wasn't going to be sitting on the sidelines much longer, "Oh, no, you're helping. When Ezriah offered your services to the chief he all but cried because he was so grateful."

Double damn. "So, I really have to do this?"

"Yup."

Damn it all to hell.

* * *

I scowled holding the flute of champagne so tightly in my grasp that I was surprised it hadn't snapped like a twig.

"Wipe that frown off your face," Ezriah said with a cheery grin clinking his own champagne flute off of mine.

I gave him the stink eye, "Tell me why we're here again."

Moira stepped up to us on my left hand side adjusting her strapless bra that kept falling down. "Networking," she spoke with determination. She was dressed in a long blue dress that fit like a glove and when she moved, that silt ,that was so high it should have been considered indecent, would reveal her beautifully tanned legs. It surprised me that she would dress so nicely for a work function. But everyone seemed to be dressed to the nines here.

I was glad Ezriah had forced me into this designer's suit. I had no clue who the designer was but the name on the label meant something to Ezriah. I fixed my unhappy mug on Moira, "And why, pray tell, do I need to do any 'networking,'" I asked, doing some air quotes around the last word.

To this, both of them rolled their eyes. Moira said, "So I'm not the only one that you go to for cases."

"But... I didn't go to you _this_ time," I countered, which was perfectly true. I didn't go to her this time, "Ezi did."

At that friendly reminder Ezriah, who had been ready to take a sip of champagne, choked on his drink.

"Exactly!" Moira shot back. "It was bad enough when it was just one person coming to me for cases."

She grabbed my wrist and yanked me to a large group of mostly males standing around and shooting the shit. Ezriah followed behind us because he had nothing better to do.

"Hey everyone, this is Dominick Kinsey and his..." she looked to Ezriah with hesitation.

"Lover,"Ezriah supplied.

"And his lover Ezriah Taylor," Moira finished.

I was greeted warmly by everyone. There was Montrose and his wife Amelia, Martin, Keenan, Kyle, Chase, and Djani and his wife Tanja.

They seemed a friendly bunch. Especially Djani and Tanja. They invited us to their home for dinner the next night and Ezriah and I graciously accepted. Maybe there really _was_ something to this networking. Either way, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the outing. Minus the suit. I could definitely live my whole life without dressing formal and not feel like I've been deprived of anything.

* * *

The next day came and I decided to visit one of the victims of this brutal attack in the hospital where he was recovering. He's had his dick reattached, but it's not like that's an easy operation to recover from. My hope was to ask him some questions about the incident and see what I could learn from him.

I was let into his room with minimal fuss. Where my hopes were completely dashed. He was sleeping deeply. And there was no way I was going to interrupt his rest. He wasn't covered and I did a once over of his body. He looked completely at peace. I would never guess that he recently had a piece of him cut off. Because it was on my mind, I found myself unwittingly focusing on his crotch.

_I was strapped to a chair. Disoriented. My head was all fuzzy. Last thing I remembered was being in the club. Some lady had slunk up to me, promised me a good time. Next I know... here with ropes tightly around my arms which were pulled uncomfortable behind the back of the wooden chair. My elbows were also tied to the chair for good measure. Looking down at myself I realized with a start that I was naked. There was a rope around my waist and a rope around each ankle._

_I tugged on my restraints but gave up when I felt the ropes break my skin. Then I decided that it was stupid of me to stop because I got a little cut when I didn't know what the hell as going on here. For all I knew, I'd be dead shortly. My struggles started and intensified. Somewhere along the way I managed to dislocate my thumb and knock the chair over._

_When the chair fell my head hit the ground hard. I think I might have blacked out for a little but I'm not entirely sure. I looked at what little bit of my surroundings I could see. How stereotypical... looked like a warehouse. I struggled not to roll my eyes. It was hard to take this whole thing seriously when everything was so cliche._

_Maybe this was part of that girl at the bar's kink. Some kind of kidnapping fetish._

_A door opened somewhere in the distance and I saw a feminine form making its way over to me. She had on a mask that hid her identity. Even with the mask I was startled to realize that I knew who was under it. "Ta-"_

_"Quiet," she hissed, backhanding me across the face. "He might see this."_

_What a weird comment. I swallowed down some blood. Man, she had a mean hit._

_She walked closer to me and rightened my chair with little effort. After I was sitting upright again and she made sure that all of my ropes were still tight (damn) she knelt in front of me and leaned toward my dick._

_Grabbing it in her hands she began to stroke. And I began to think that maybe_ she _had been the girl I saw at the bar last night. But... she's married. I groaned. Married or not, I was only human, and this felt good. Maybe she_ did _have some kind of weird fetish. If it ended with me nutting one off, I was totally okay with whatever kink she wanted to perform._

_When my erection stood proudly at attention she stopped her ministrations. She looked up at me from under those long eyelashes and said rather coyly, "It's a shame you look like him." Her breath as she spoke was pure torture to my sensitive member._

_I closed my eyes in rapture. It was my goal to calm down before asking what she meant by that last comment. Who did I look like?_

_The next thing I felt was pain. Unimaginable pain. Fuck!_

_My eyes snapped open._

_She was holding a cleaver in one hand._

_And my dick in the other._

_At the sight of my appendage in her hand, the realization of what happened set in. I couldn't form words, only scream in pain and terror. She. She cut off my dick. The pain was too much and I passed out._

I came to on the floor of the victim's hospital room. He was still sleeping peacefully and I was a disgusting sweaty mess. I felt phantom pains in my own dick from what I had just experienced. And what I saw and felt was second hand. I couldn't even imagine living through that kind of pain.

Groaning, I stood up and quickly checked my phone for the time. _Shit_. I was late. I was supposed to be home getting ready for our dinner tonight with Djani and Tanja.

 _Huh_ , I had four missed calls from Ezriah.

I was about to call him back when my phone started vibrating, signaling that he was calling me. Again.

Walking into the hall as quick as possible, I answered the phone.

Ezriah didn't even bother with a greeting, "I can't come tonight," he dropped the bomb swiftly and effectively.

"What?" I said hoping I heard him wrong.

"I can't come tonight," he repeated, "I have a really important client that needed to reschedule his meeting for tonight and I cannot say no to him."

"Oh, it's work," I said, sounding more than a little dejected.

'Yeah," Ezriah confirmed, "I'm _so_ sorry."

"It's okay," I assured him, or maybe I was trying to assure myself. I didn't know. "I understand that you have a very important job."

"But it wouldn't be like this," Ezriah lamented. "You're more important than my job."

My heart skipped a beat at those words both in happiness at being so important to him and in fear. It scared me that he liked me so much when I had really refused to take that final plunge. Sure, I admitted that we were in a relationship. But was it serious? I didn't think so but it sounded like Ezi had other thoughts on that matter. I mean, we'd still only had sex that one time. Probably because I kept chickening out and Ezriah was too much of a goddamn gentleman to push the matter. I think if he ever pushed even a little bit I might give in.

"It's okay, Ezi, I understand," I all but whispered. And I really meant it. I did understand. I understood perfectly how his hands were tied by a bigger fish than him and he couldn't afford to show them any weakness. I would just have to put my big boy panties on and go to the dinner by myself.

I left the hospital and called a cab to take me home. Once there I did the quickest change around imaginable and was out the door in less than three minutes. The cab was nice enough to wait. Probably had nothing better to do...

It wasn't too far of a drive to Djani and Tanja's but I just didn't feel like driving. Plus, if I drove, it would be irresponsible for me to drink and if they were offering drinks I had a feeling I was going to slam a couple back to get rid of the awkwardness of being there without Ezriah.

The cab came to a stop jerking me out of my thoughts. I paid the driver and got out of my car clutching the bottle of wine Ezriah had picked out as a present.

Their house was nice. A small yard with a white cape cod style home.

I took a deep breath, gathering my courage. I didn't know what was wrong with me, we'd really hit it off at the party. Why was it so hard to knock on their door and initiate this second meeting?

 _You can do this, Dominick,_ a little self assurance never killed anyone.

Walking up to the door, I held my hand out to knock. Only it was opened before my knuckles could connect. Well, that was embarrassing. That means they had seen all of that nervousness on their front lawn. Yikes.

Or, only Tanja was at the door. "Sorry I'm late," I apologized while handing her the wine.

"That's okay," Tanja said with a bright easy smile. "Djani hasn't returned from work yet anyways."

"Oh!" I said, a little surprised. That made sense.

"While we wait, how about I open this bottle of wine?" she suggested and I smiled liking hat she was offering.

"That sounds lovely," nothing like some liquid courage.

She led me into a sitting room and scurried into the kitchen promising to be right back with the wine.

Coming back into the room, she was holding a tray, "Do you like cheese with your wine? I love cheese and wine, so I brought some of that too."

Her nervous prattle made me feel more comfortable. I picked up a cube of the cheese. "This is perfect. Thank you." Never hurt to be polite when meeting new people. If they became good friends with me, _then_ they'd have to get used to me being a bastard most of the time.

"This is good wine," she complimented, "I've never had it before."

Because it was fucking rich people shit. I tried it. "It _is_ good," I agreed.

"You've never had it before?" She sounded surprised.

Sheepishly I admitted, "Ezriah picked it out. I don't know the first thing about wine."

We continued to chat amiably and I absentmindedly wondered what could be keeping Djani so long as we finished our first glasses of wine.

Tanja went to get us a refill. As I waited for her to come back I stifled a yawn. Today had been a long day and with every passing moment, it appeared to be getting longer. The longer Djani took to come home the longer this dinner was going to take.

Tanja came back and handed me my cup of wine. While we chatted I increasingly found the flow of conversation interrupted by my yawns. My blinking became heavier and heavier.

I stood up from the couch. "I think maybe I should call it a night we can try this some other time when all four of us will definitely be here."

Tanja reluctantly agreed and followed me to the door.

I teetered on my feet as she held the door open for me. "I don't know why I'm so tired all of a sudden," I joked smiling charmingly at Tanja.

"Oh, that would be the sleeping pills I put into your drink," Tanja admitted darkly.

My eyes grew wide in surprise as she lunged for me. I didn't even have time to comprehend what was happening before she plunged a syringe into my neck.

My vision grew hazy and I passed out.


	15. Case 52:  Dicking Around Part 2

I was strapped to a chair. Disoriented. My head was all fuzzy. Last thing I remembered was being at Tanja's house. There were ropes tied tightly around my wrist which were pulled uncomfortably behind the back of the wooden chair I was sitting on. My elbows were also tied to the chair for good measure. Looking down at myself I realized I was naked. There was a rope around my waist and a rope around each ankle. Why did it feel like I'd experienced all of this before somewhere?

 _Shit!_ The vision.

There's no _way_ I'm letting this scene play out in real life. Seeing some other guy's dick get cut off through his eyes was painful enough. My dick was not meeting a similar fate.

Why the hell did I take her fucking drink. It's not even the first time a woman has drugged me at her house? Did I learn nothing? After I got out of here, I was never _ever_ going to accept an open drink from anyone ever again.

I struggled with the ropes, yanking my wrists as hard as I could. I could feel the blood dripping down my hands from the constant rubbing of the coarse rope over my much more delicate flesh. When I couldn't get my hands loose, I tried for my feet. Tugging on them only resulted in, you guessed it, toppling over my chair.

I managed to avoid hitting my head on the ground, a small miracle, and tried to squirm myself away from the area where I had been sat. Maybe that would make it more difficult to find me. Only moving yourself while stuck to a chair is fucking _hard_. I might have squiggled a foot away from where I had been set before I was so tired I needed to catch my breath.

While I was trying to get my breathing back under control, a door opened somewhere in the distance. There was a distinct form of a female making her way over to me. When she got closer she smirked, as if finding this whole situation mildly amusing.

"Please don't cut my dick off," I blurted out without thinking. Mentally slapping myself I hoped she wouldn't think it was weird that I knew what she planned to do. Heck, maybe she'd just think I watched the news.

She got closer to me and moved my chair in an upright position. Must have eaten her Wheaties this morning. I wouldn't know, I wasn't with her in the morning.

She stood up and looked down at me with a sneer.

"You're not wearing your mask, Tanja," I stated calmly.

Tanja didn't seem too surprised that I knew she had worn a mask before. It was almost as if she somehow _knew_ that I could do what I did. That I had visions. "You know, when he told me, I didn't believe him," she commented slowly.

"Who? What did he tell you?"

"He said that you had visions," Tanja continued like I had never talked, picking her words carefully, and I guess she could. She literally had a captive audience. "Said you might see what he made me do."

"Who? _Who's_ been making you do this?" I was beginning to feel a little bit like an owl.

"It doesn't matter," she hissed with a dramatic flare. "Nothing matters anymore. Should have realized... told me if I didn't... tell Djani I'm cheating... That I cheated... Made me take them and do... All those awful things... to find _you_. Lure you out."

Well, I could almost understand that sputtered nonsense.

She turned away from me and walked some distance towards the door she had come in. I saw the flash of her phone coming out of her pocket. She dialed a number and put the device up to her ear.

"I got him, now what?" she spoke flatly. I wondered why she was listening to this person. Wasn't it easier to just tell your partner that you were cheating on them? Rather than be blackmailed by someone who then forced you to commit horrendous crimes?

Sometime during my thoughts Tanja had finished her phone call. Oops, probably should have paid more attention to that.

She pulled a plastic sandwich bag out of her pocket and I gave her a confused look when I saw what was in it.

In answer to my question Tanja said, "Did I ever tell you what I do for a living?"

Why would I know that? We just met. And for some reason I didn't want our friendship to continue. I just glared at her in response. I had a feeling she would be telling me her profession anyway.

She reached into the sandwich bag and pulled out some vinyl gloves. Pulling them onto her hands, Tanja then stepped forward and supped out another syringe. "I'm a piercer."

Walking behind my chair, she stuck the tip of that fucking syringe in my arm. "You'll thank me for this," she declared as she plunged the drug into my system.

Without the sleeping pills I didn't pass out but everything got all floaty.

I couldn't see clearly and sensations were _super_ muted. I vaguely realized she was messing with the head of my dick. I tried to tell her to get away from there but it came out more like, "Hueahh."

I stopped trying to talk after that and instead tried to focus on what she was doing. My head lolled to the left and I giggled. Why was it so hard to focus?

I felt a pinch.

"I'll be back later," Tanja promised before leaving the room.

I wonder if my dick's still attached.

An indiscernible amount of time passed with me in a complete haze.

As my thoughts began to get more lucid I became distinctly aware of a dull throbbing in my dick. I blearily looked down at my crotch. " _What the fuck_?" I shouted in dismay. The yell reverberated off of the walls of this... warehouse. I wonder if this really is a warehouse. That's what the last victim seemed to think.

Tanja decided to walk in at that moment. "I did a good job, didn't I?" she spoke with a joy that totally didn't fit this situation.

"What the fuck," I repeated.

"My _boss_ wanted you pierced," was her shitty explanation.

"What. the. _fuck_ ," I hissed.

There was a fucking Prince Albert piercing on my dick.

"Be glad it's still there," she said darkly. "My boss is coming for you the day after tomorrow. In that time he wants me to pierce your nipples, guiche, tongue, lip, and eyebrow."

 _What the fuck?_ I stared at her in horror and disbelief. I didn't want any of those piercings. If I wanted them, I'd already have them.

Tanja skipped, fucking skipped, towards the door. "I'll be back later with the supplies."

Her attitude was so different today. Either she was glad this shit was almost over or she just _really_ liked giving people piercings. My bet was on a combination of the two.

About 30 minutes later the door was thrown open and I got ready for Tanja to bound into the room and poke more holes into my body. But she wasn't the one bounding into the room. Instead it was a group of police officers with weapons at the ready. They were obviously not sure what they would be walking into.

When they saw me tied up to the chair they did a double take before coming to release me. One of the officers left and came back with a blanket to cover my nudity.

I was led outside and checked over by the ambulance that was stationed outside.

The police took my statement right there on what had happened and also informed me that Tanja was already apprehended. They caught her getting into her car in the parking lot. We were at an abandoned factory near the river.

And how had they figured out that I was here?

Ezriah had apparently put one of those family tracking apps on my phone one day when I wasn't paying attention. After I get over the breach in privacy I'll have to thank him for putting that on my phone. It probably saved my life... or at least prevented me from obtaining anymore piercings.

Speaking of Ezriah, the man in question had been standing in the shadows while all of the legal stuff was taken care of before he enveloped me into one of those tight hugs that never failed to make me feel safe. He kissed me on his head and promised that we'd continue this touchy feely stuff when we got to his house.

The police let me know that at this point in time Tanja had refused to cooperate with their questioning and would not divulge the identity of the person who was really pulling the strings. I was then told by everyone that I was good to go home and Ezriah quickly picked me up princess style and carried me to the car.

One of the cops snickered good naturedly, "Keep the blanket," he yelled referring to the blanket that I had fashioned into a makeshift toga. Albeit, a very short toga.

* * *

Ezriah insisted on me not touching the ground until I was in his home. He set me gently on his couch. It was as if he thought I'd break. And I was so not okay with that. I went through a traumatic ordeal, sure, but I wasn't going to break. It would have been even more traumatic if it was allowed to go to fruition.

Ezriah sat down next to me. I was super conscious of the fact that all I was wearing was a blanket toga and he was fully clothed. "I thought I was going to lose you... _again_ ," he spoke quietly. The quietness of his speech made me want to listen in rapt attention to all he needed to say. "Did you learn nothing from what happened with that old lady?"

I winced. That was so accurate. Sometimes I wondered if Ezriah had some kind of secret psychic powers. He was looking at me like he expected something. Maybe I should apologize? Wouldn't hurt to try. I didn't want him to be upset with me. Especially when I knew the angry emotions he was displaying were really to mask his worry and fear. "Sorry, sir," shit, that sir just sneaked out there.

The change in Ezriah's demeanor was immediate. His pupils dilated and I noticed, with a gulp, that a certain _appendage_ was really filling out a specific area of his pants.

All that from me saying sir? That made me feel oddly powerful.

"What am I going to do with you?" Ezriah asked weakly.

And for once I said what's on my mind without thinking of all my self imposed rules, "Fuck me, sir," I whispered as I lunged forward and wrapped my arms around his neck. Ezriah stiffened in surprise before he leaned down and captured my lips with his own.

He Stood up from the couch and picked me up, carrying me into his bedroom. There we both undressed in a frenzy, eager to be in each other's embrace.

When I was completely undressed Ezriah was staring in confusion at my dick. "What?" I asked, a little confused.

"When'd you get that?" he asked in surprise.

"Uhh," hmm this would kill the mood, "last night?"

I thought about the piercing a little bit more. It didn't really hurt at all. I wondered if she had been doing the aftercare for me so it wouldn't get infected. I had since gotten a closer look at the piercing itself and it was a circle with a captive bead (how fitting) and on the underside were three smaller captive bead circles that dangled. When I walked without clothes on, it made a barely perceptible jingling noise. It sounded...cute.

"What the fuck," Ezriah all but moaned.

I walked closer to him and wrapped my arms around his neck again pulling his head down closer to mind. Damn tall person. "What?" I whispered.

He hesitated, "I'm afraid you'll hate me if I say this."

"Try me."

"That piercing," here it comes, he was about to say how disgusting he found it. I wonder how long before I can get rid of it safely. "That piercing is hot," okay, that's not what I expected at all. He continued sheepishly, "Is there any hope of me convincing you to keep it?"

Was there hop?. I didn't want to get the piercing but if Ezriah thought it looked good on me. Maybe... Maybe that could be the silver lining on this whole situation. It's not like anyone would be seeing it besides him and me anyway.

"Why don't you fuck me," I smirked as I leaned over the side of his bed spreading my legs invitingly, just for him, "and then I'll tell you my answer."

The only reply I got was a throaty chuckle before he came over to the bed and showed me who was really in charge of this whole little game we were playing.


	16. Case 59:  Open Wide Part 1

Man, I’m achey everywhere. The good kind of ache that comes from a  _ great _ workout routine with a  _ great  _ bed partner. Speaking of bed partner... Ezriah pulled me into him resting his chin over my shoulder. I squirmed to get away, which only succeeded in me rubbing along a part of his anatomy that definitely was awake. 

Ezriah let out a  _ hss _ of air. He moved his lips close to my ear, so close I could just barely feel them touching the sensitive skin there, “Don’t start something you’re not planning on finishing.”

The fuck? “Hey, who grabbed who?” I answered with barely contained irritation. Was it too early to go back to bed?

I rolled slightly out of his grasp so I could lay face down on the bed. My new goal: smother out the daylight with my pillow. 

Ezi chuckled, low and deep. That chuckle did things to me. Why did I like him so much? I swore I’d never get into a relationship again after what happened last time. I didn’t need that shit in my life. 

“While you try to block out the world, I’m going to shower,” Ezi declared. He pushed himself out of bed and I could vividly imagine him sauntering across the room, all too proud of his nakedness. Smug bastard. 

Once I heard the shower running, I decided it was time to give up on the whole sleeping thing. It just wasn’t coming to me and I couldn’t deny the world’s existence all day. No matter how much I wanted to do so. 

I hopped out of bed and shimmied into a pair of loose fitting sweats. There’s no point in really dressing yet because I definitely wanted a shower too. I had the briefest thought of going to join Ezi in there but… well, I wasn’t sure if it would be welcome and I also think I needed the alone shower time to think. Think about all the recent changes in my life and if they were something I wanted. Something I needed. 

Walking out to my kitchen, I decided it was time to make some breakfast. I got out some eggs, summer sausage, and bread and got to work cooking a hearty breakfast for me and Ezi. I was humming a merry tune as I put slices of bread in the toaster when I had a thought that stopped me cold… I was being fucking domestic. Shit, I was in deep with this and it terrified me. I could feel my pulse quicken and my breathing escalating. Felt like I was going to have a panic attack. Something that hadn’t happened to me in years. I thought I was done with this shit. It took me so long after everything that happened… 

I couldn't stop it.

I tried, but the panic and terror had me curling to a ball on the floor, food forgotten. I could dimly hear the sizzling of the sausage and eggs and smell as the meal started to burn, but it seemed so far away over the pressing horror swirling around inside of me. 

“Dominick?” someone was calling for me. Then with more urgency and alarm, “Dominick!”

Ezi was in front of me, crouched down on the floor. Trying to bring me back from my panic. 

After God knows how long, I was rescued from that place by Ezi. He had me sitting on the couch, wrapped in a fluffy blanket, while he took care of the mess I made in the kitchen. I pet the blanket, it was so soft. I wonder where it was in my house… maybe the closet. I don’t know. 

He came into the room holding two plates filled with toast, summer sausage, and eggs. So, maybe the breakfast wasn’t a total loss after all? I looked at Ezriah in question and he got what I was trying to ask.

“The pan’s toast, but there was enough stuff left to make more,” he explained with a gentle smile handing me a plate. “Wanna eat here or go to your table?”

“I don’t want to move right now,” I confessed. It was supposed to come out melodramatic and whiny but ended up sounding hollow and exhausted.

“Want to tell me what happened?” It was said as gently as all of his actions this morning had been and I knew he’d be okay with whatever answer I gave him, even if it wasn’t the one he wanted to hear. 

It’d be so easy to say, “No,” darn, I just said it. It  _ was _ easy to say. 

Ezriah’s lips tightened briefly before he nodded his head and accepted my answer.

“But… I kind of want to tell you,” I confessed.

He waited patiently for me to go on.

“I can’t tell you all the details, I’m not ready for that yet, but I’ll tell you what I can,” I decided. 

He nodded his head, letting me speak at my own pace. 

“Believe it or not, I used to do relationships. I  _ loved _ falling in love. I fell in love quickly and deeply, not unlike Romeo, who’s a complete dipshit. I hope I’m at least not  _ that _ stupid.” Ezi cleared his throat to gently let me know I was going off on a tangent. Man, couldn’t he let me delay this a little longer? 

“Anyway, I didn’t start my manwhoring ways until after  _ him _ ,” I stated matter-of-factly.

“I’m glad you’re sharing this with me,” Ezriah stated, and I could tell he was exasperated with my explanation already, “but please don’t call yourself a manwhore.”

“Aren’t I one?” I countered.

He just gave me a cross look.

I took a deep breath, meant to stall more than it was meant to calm me, “I loved him  _ so _ much. Or, at least, I thought I did. As our relationship became more serious and we started thinking about the future, he became a little obsessive,” now I did take a breath to calm myself down. It was a shaky stuttery inhale that made me feel like I was choking. I felt a drip of water on my hand and realized I was crying. Reaching up with my hand, I wiped my eyes. 

“If it’s too much for you, you don’t have to tell me,” Ezriah spoke gently. Why was everything about him so fucking gentle? So fucking perfect for me. 

“No!” I shouted, a little louder than I meant to, “I need to do this,” I was determined to lay it all out there so Ezi could see what a hopeless case I was and pack his bags before things got more… more of everything they currently already were. “I guess it would be an abusive relationship, if I needed to define it in simple words. He locked me up and nobody could find me, only him. And for awhile… for a while I let him do it because I was so, so afraid of what he’d do to me if I tried to escape. The unknown was scarier than the known. Until it wasn’t.”

“I escaped. The end.”

There. Done. I didn’t have to say anything about that anymore. 

I looked up at Ezriah, and his mouth was slightly agape. He must have realized he was starting. Rude. He closed his mouth and quickly closed the distance between us, pulling me into a hug that made me feel safe. So safe. I stiffened in surprise, not expecting this reaction at all. Ezriah’s hand was combing through my hair gently. “Let it out,” was all he said, but the way he said it so full of understanding, compassion, feeling, goddamned  _ loved _ , had me sobbing against him. Sobbing tears that were way overdue to fall. Tears that spoke of losing a part of yourself that no matter how hard you tried would never be exactly the same. Why did he want a mess like me?

“Shh,’ he spoke gently, “none of that talk, now.”

“Huh, must have said that out loud,” I mused, sleepily.

“You did, baby,” Ezi confirmed. “Take a nap. I’ll be right here when you wake up,” he spoke quietly, still stroking my hair. 

I felt myself drifting until I felt nothing at all, lulled into a deep sleep from the safety of Ezriah’s arms. 


	17. Case 59:  Open Wide Part 2

_ Discomfort. That was definitely a word to describe the situation I found myself in right now. I felt sluggish, heavy and… comfortable?  _

_ I was in a bed.  _ My  _ bed… I think.  _

_ Feels like I was drugged. Maybe a sedative.  _

_ I could almost feel another person in the room with me. The air was thick with a kind of tension, an energy only produced by feeling like you’re not alone.  _

_ Hands touched my jaw. If I was able to move at all, I would have flinched. I tried so hard to open my eyes, but they felt like they were glued shut.  _

_ “Open wide,” a male voice commanded as he forced my mouth open.  _

_ He put something in my mouth and I felt a pinch. Then a yank, and nothing… _

_ I fell into a deeper sleep.  _

_ It felt like minutes later, I was stretching and getting out of bed. I yawned and was shocked to feel a dull ache in my jaw.  _

Huh, weird.  _ I went into the bathroom to see if I could see any swelling.  _

_ There was a little bit. I opened my mouth and was shocked to see, I had a tooth missing that hadn’t been missing last night. _

* * *

“The fuck?” I jumped successfully pulling myself and Ezriah off my couch. 

We landed on the floor with a thud. “‘The fuck,’ is right. What was that all about,” Ezi asked sounding a little sore to be woken up so abruptly. 

“I had a vision,” I stated with a shrug.

“While you were sleeping?” 

I nodded. I thought it was weird too.

“Are you sure it wasn’t a dream?” Ezriah questioned. 

That was a fair question. “No, I can just… I don’t know,  _ feel _ it. It was definitely a vision. I bet any minute now Moira’s gonna ring me about it.”

Derp decided that he was being left out of this little love pile and plopped himself down on top of us. 

Ezriah poked him and Derp sneezed. “I’ve always wanted to ask this,” he started. “What is wrong with this cat?”

“Ummm,” there was definitely  _ something  _ wrong with Derp, I just always went with him being quirky, “He’s… quirky?”

A disbelieving eyebrow was raised in my general direction. 

“Okay… maybe he was dropped on his head before I got him, or fell down a large flight of stairs,” those sounded plausible. 

“So, you don’t know,” Ezi stated.

“Nope,” I smiled, popping the P.

Ezriah’s phone rang and he answered it. There was a super sarcastic eye roll and he passed the phone to me, “It’s for you.”

I took the phone gingerly and held it up to my ear, “Hello?”

“Hey,” Moira greeted, “You’re not answering your phone.” Huh, wonder where my phone was…

Well, I could guess what this phone call was about, “Let me guess, you’re calling to tell me a person came in because he found he was missing a tooth?”

“That voodoo stuff you do is weird,” Moira stated, “but it wasn’t one person, it was three. Three  _ today _ . There were two yesterday.”

“So, we have a tooth snatcher?”

“We have a tooth snatcher,” Moira confirmed. 

Moira invited me to sit in on some interviews of the victims that they were running down at the station. 

I stretched from my position still on the floor and groaned before pecking Ezriah on the cheek and getting up to get ready for the interview. I looked back to see Ezi touching his cheek with a small smile on his face. Was that the first time I really showed open affection like that? Probably. 

“You’ll be sitting in on some victim interviews then?” 

“Yeah,” I agreed. “It’s gonna be super dull.”

He got off the floor and plopped Derp on the couch. The fluffy cat rolled onto his back and laid with all his paws straight out. Weird. 

“I’ll see you later,” Ezi said with some deeper feeling in his voice. I didn’t know exactly what those feelings were, but I knew they were intense and directed at me. Probably some sort of affection. Like the kind of affection that makes you peck his cheek for no reason…

“Yeah,” I replied a little breathy, “yeah, I’ll see you later.”

* * *

That was shit. 

I sat through  _ hours  _ of interviews just to determine that the dentist they all shared was the culprit. He decided to pick up some extra cash by pulling out people’s gold fillings. Was that even something legit that he could do? I didn’t know, but he thought it was. 

I pulled my phone out of my pocket. My intent was to call Ezi. I wanted to see him, or at least hear his voice. I dialed his number. 

“Hey Dom,” Ezi greeted with his smokey voice.

“Ooh,  _ Dom _ , I like that,” I practically purred into the phone. “I wanted to know if you’d like to come over?” 

“Oh baby,” Ezi started and I already knew he wasn’t coming over, “I got an urgent business call, I’m going to be going out of town to help them fix their problems.”

Pouting I whined, “But, but,” I didn’t quite know where I was going with this, “I  _ need _ you.”

“You don’t know how hard you’re making it to leave right now,” he growled into the phone, lust clear in his voice. 

“Then don’t go,” okay, where had this needy Dominick come from and how did I get rid of him? Did I want to get rid of him?

“I have to,” he seemed sad to be leaving me, at least.

“How long will you be gone?”

“A week,” Ezriah admitted like he did something wrong. 

“Shit.” 


	18. Interlude

**Ezriah's POV**

This week was one of the most exhausting I can remember. I was out on business, away from Dominick, right when he needed me the most. It feels like our relationship had just started to blossom into something beautiful, formed with trust and mutual attraction, right before I received the call saying I needed to talk some suit off the not so proverbial building ledge. 

I don’t think I ever told Dominick what my current job was. He knows I’m a thief, or well an ex-thief. These days I find myself more of a crisis negotiator of sorts. People call me in when situations go south. I use my quick reflexes, reasoning skills, and a whole lot of unshakable dominance to diffuse tense situations. 

This situation had certainly been tense. I could feel the tension in my shoulders and there was a definite stress induced headache forming. Plopping down on my hotel bed I sighed scrubbing my hands over my face. It was day five of this ordeal and I believe that, finally, the worst of it is over. I might even be able to head home early if my services were deemed complete. 

I desperately wanted to see Dominick. It had been five days of intense thinking. Thinking about this wonderful man who caught me unawares since the first moment I laid eyes on him. He was snarky, charming, a lovable pain in my as, and undeniably sweet in his uncertainty. Despite everything I knew about him I couldn’t help thinking that he was remarkably innocent. He could definitely find his way around a human body in the bedroom, but he was so innocent with the way relationships worked. That innocence called to the dom in me like nothing had before. 

I hadn’t even told him I was into BDSM yes and already I could vividly see him graceful on his knees looking up at me with those mischievous eyes, only wanting to please me. I would give him pleasure like he’d never known before. In order to do that, I needed to tell him. Tell him I was a dom and, in addition to a relationship with Dominick, I wanted him to be my submissive. 


	19. Case 61:  Frigid Bitch

“Can you tell me why I’m outside this house again, Moira?” I groused exasperatedly into my phone. Moira told me to meet her at some rich person’s house for a case, and I was here waiting, but she’s nowhere to be seen. I was currently standing at the front door facing the road, looking for any signs that Moira was running late. I suspected I was being stood up. But, Moira wouldn’t do that to me. Never in a million years. 

“Well, when I said I’d meet you there, I really meant you would do it alone,” Moira laughed nervously.

“Why would you do that?” I asked horrified. Okay, apparently she would stand me up. I can’t believe she’d let me go into a place like this by myself. 

I waited for her to answer. It took a couple of awkward seconds of silence for her to realize I actually expected an answer to that question. “If you had to deal with this woman on a regular basis, you wouldn't be jumping at the bit to be near her,” Moira finally admitted.

“So, you sent me to a lady who didn’t win any Miss Congeniality awards,” I said matter of factly. 

“No, she’s a bitch,” Moira said, at the same time another female voice spoke up. 

“Actually,” the other voice said, “I placed in all the pageants I’ve ever entered. Winning Miss Congeniality is  _ so _ beneath me,” she said with a toss of her hair. 

“Well,  _ la-tee-da _ ,” I rolled my eyes and finally turned to face the door to the house, where there was  _ quite  _ an interesting character standing in the door.

Cougar would definitely be the immediate word I would use to describe this woman. She was wearing a skintight dress that was just barely long enough to cover the important bits and her ample bosom practically spilled out of the sleeveless top. Reinforcing the whole cat theme she had going on was the tiger pattern on the dress and her larger than life eye makeup complete with cat eyeliner. 

Personally, I think she’s trying a little too hard.

Her eyes lit up when she saw me like she just found her new toy. “Me _ ow _ ,” she purred, puffing up her chest in a way that brought it closer to my face. 

Okay, she was trying a  _ lot _ too hard. I like a good set of breasts as much as the next person, but… no. Just no. 

I reached my hand out in greeting purposefully focusing on her face, trying to send the message that I wasn’t here for anything like  _ that _ . “I’m Dominick Kinsey. I’m here to look into the whole broken window thing,” I introduced myself with a totally fake smile.

She didn’t shake my hand, instead her posture changed and she scrunched up her nose before folding her arms across her chest, “ _ Excuse _ me,” well, she sounded angry for some reason, “‘Window  _ thing _ ?’” She did little quotes where she was… quoting… me. “I’ll have you know, that window was imported from France, and on top of all that my 292” TV was also destroyed. And the Bastard that did it left my floor wet on top of everything.”

_ Rude _ . 

I could feel my pleasantly forced smile cracking. Through gritted teeth I managed to say, “I’m a private investigator. I can find out what happened.”

She threw me an unimpressed look, like I wasn’t even worth as much as the dirt on her shoes, and turned to go back into her house leaving the door open for me to follow her inside. 

She led me to the window and then the TV. “I know the next door neighbors did this. They are the  _ worst _ sort of people,” she accused while I looked around the room for something that would hopefully stick out, “flaunting  _ that kind _ of relationship. Subjecting it to  _ children _ too,” I didn’t like the way this was going. “I know there’s homosexuals in the world but,” I looked to the floor and saw the large puddle she was talking about. 

_ It’s a cold day. There’s snow and ice from a couple of days previously. It’s been thawing during the day and refreezing at night. Early in the morning it has started to melt enough to come loose on the top of a passing truck. The truck was traveling a little faster than it should have and spun right in front of this house, slamming on its breaks to try and stop. It did manage to stop, but the ice that wasn’t cleaned off the roof did not stop. Those pesky laws of motion… The ice shot an incredible distance, right through the window and into the TV. All the ice had to do was melt in the warm house and the scene was set exactly how she found it when she got home from getting her hair dyed.  _

“ _ Excuse _ me, are you listening to me?” She was waving her hand in front of my face. Oops, must have been zoning longer than I thought. 

“Do you have surveillance?” I asked.

“Do you really think I would live in a place like this without surveillance?” she countered condescendingly. 

“So… then you know that ice flew in that window and broke your TV,” I stated like it was completely obvious. 

“Of course I do, I just want to blame the neighbors because they’re horrible people and-” she stopped talking, “Hey, you tricked me into saying that!”

I raised an eyebrow in question. Here’s me standing here literally doing nothing to trick her. 

“I want you to leave,” she barked out. 

I shrugged, “Sounds good to me.” 

I turned around and saw myself to the door. Because of the open layout of her home she could still clearly see me as I left. I gave her a cheeky little wave and blew her a kiss before closing the door to her house and walking to my car. 

As I sat in the driver’s seat I realized that, once again, I had a vision that wasn’t directly attached to a person. I looked at a freaking puddle, didn’t even touch it, and I was thrown into a vision. It seemed to be getting easier to have the visions, which I viewed as a good and a bad thing. I could very easily help people with my visions but what if I began having too many and they took over? What if I got trapped in there and could never get out? These worries would eat me apart. Maybe I should talk to someone about this. 

And I knew the one person I wanted to talk to about this. Unfortunately, he was very hard to reach while on his business trip.

  
On my drive home, I reflected on exactly how stupid that case was. I literally had nobody but Moira to talk to right now and I had already given her the official statement she needed. Man, I really needed to get out more. What happened to the person who used to go out and  _ meet _ a new person every night? That’s right… I have Ezi now, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t have other friends. Emphasis on the plural… For now, I guess I would be sharing the juicy details of this case with my trusty assistant Derp. 


End file.
